Nation's Fire
by Zorcoz
Summary: Inspired by AvatarCritics youtube video, What if Iroh's son never died, while obviously taking my own creative liberties. Essentially just going to slowly retell the story as I see fit, it may branch off rather heavily, or it may follow the series closer than one may think. You'd have to follow along as I post it to find out. It is Azulaang, becuz I want it to be.
1. Chapter 1

Light. He could just barely register the light, it shone against his eyelids, he could see it. The almost imperceptible change in the darkness that was always around him.

He tried to move his head to look more towards the light. He couldn't.

He tried to move his arms to reach in its general direction. He couldn't.

He tried to stand up to be closer to the light. He couldn't.

It seemed as though every part of his body was frozen in place, he couldn't even twitch a single finger on his hands.

He felt as though this should have been freaking him out. But oddly enough he found himself in an oddly calm state. He could feel his emotions but it was almost like he was looking at them from the other side of a large canyon. They were there, but just out of reach to him. Instead he felt a strange calmness that radiated from his core and throughout his body, sustaining him.

The light was brighter now, and despite himself he found himself attempting to open his eyes to take it in.

The calmness prevented him from being shocked when his eyes bolted open.

In front of him were to figures, distorted by some material that was dividing them, was that… ice? He must have been in one of the poles, but how had he gotten here? He couldn't quite remember. There was something about a storm, but then the memory faded and the calmness washed over his confusion.

The skinnier figure was twisting in a striking motion. Perhaps she was trying to break the ice? That would be nice, maybe with it broken he would be able to move around again. His mind wandered to his knowledge of the poles. There had always been something that he wanted to do if he traveled here, maybe now he would get his chance.

There was a loud cracking sound, then a whoosh of air and a bright light as the ice surrounding him broke. With his ability of motion restored he took a few steps, but then the calmness left him, and all his pent up emotions clashed together before quickly subsiding.

The strength left his body, and he found himself being caught by one of the figures. He could make out some more masculine features.

As his vision cleared he saw that the one holding him had been a young man, probably in his mid-teens by the look of it, he would guess maybe two or three years older than him.

He opened his mouth and whispered quietly, "come closer," the teens eyes widened and then narrowed in suspicion, but still he moved a bit closer to him. "Closer," he whispered again. The boy once again leaned just a bit closer to his face.

A mischievous smile spread across his face as he put his mouth to the boys ears and shouted, "Would you go penguin sledding with me?!"

~0~

She held in the laugh as she watched her brother scramble away from the boy, holding his ear with one hand while brandishing his spear with the other. Pointing it at the young boy.

Now sitting up, the child looked at the two of them with a wide smile on his face. "Hi!" he said enthusiastically. "I'm Aang, who are you guys?"

Her brother eyed Aang suspiciously before replying in a slow tone, "Hi Aang, I'm… Shang. This is my sister… Suzy."

She rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder with a small grunt of anger, "Sokka!" he looked at her incredulously, "What!? We don't know who he is. For all we know, he's a Fire Nation spy." He darted his eyes back over to the boy, who was still sitting watching them with a confused expression.

"Right, I completely forgot about the Fire Nation's newest technique, Iceberg spies." the sarcasm dripped off her voice before she turned to the boy and addressed him in a friendly tone. "Sorry about my brother, I'm Katara, and loudmouth here is my brother, Sokka."

Aang smiled at her again, and opened his mouth to speak again. "Nice to meet you Katara and So… So.. Soooachoo!" he sentence was cut off by a loud sneeze, and Katara found her mouth dropping as she watched a 12 year old boy get launched 20 feet into the air.

~0~

His sister was far too trusting. Aang was a stranger they had just found in a block of ice. They had no reason not to believe he didn't pose a threat to both the two of them, and the nation as a whole. Still, Katara had already told the boy their names, so there was no point in hiding anymore. If he was Fire Nation, he already had all the information he needed to destroy them.

His eyes shot open as he watched the boy get launched upwards, disappearing into the clouds overhead before slowly floating back down to the ground in front of them.

The boy looked back at them shyly, "excuse me," he mumbled.

Sokka couldn't believe the causality of the boys response, "Exc… Excuse you! You just shot 20 feet into the air!" The boy looked up, scratching his head, "Really? Only 20 feet? I thought it was higher." Sokka's jaw fell open. This was insanity. He went out today only hoping to catch some fish, instead his sister had managed to find a magic boy in a block of ice. Just once, he wanted to go out and have a normal experience.

He glanced over at katara, scared at what he might see. His sister's eyes were sparkling as she looked at the boy. He sighed, this was only going to get worse.

~0~

"You're an airbender!" the girl exclaimed, her hands were clasped together and she took a step closer to him before her brother shot his hand outwards to stop her.

"Alright Aang, who else is with you?!" Sokka pointed his spear at Aang, jabbing the air in front of him to accent his question. Aang pushed the spear aside with his hand, and followed it with a shrug, "even if you ask me that, my answer would still be that it's just me and… APPA!" He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about his fluffy buddy.

Aang quickly scrambled his way over the wall of ice behind him, calling out the animals name as he went. "Appa! Appa!" As he crested the small glacial mound he sighed in relief as he saw the large hairy torso of his sky bison rise and fall in steady motions. "Come on buddy, rise and shine," he reached the animals face and shook it slightly. Slowly the large creatures eyes opened, revealing deep brown irises gleaming with years of intelligence. Appa's mouth opened wide and he released a deafening roar of a yawn, causing the ground itself to shake. "Good to see you too buddy." Aang enveloped the bison in a big a hug as he could manage and squeezed.

He heard a gasp behind him. Turning around he could see the Sokka and Katara had reached the hilltop and were now staring in awe at the large sky bison before them.

Sokka was the first to speak, muttering under his breath, "great, now the magic ice child has a pet." he grumbled to himself and followed his sister as she approached the creature. "This is amazing!" she said softly, looking back towards Aang.

"Allow me to introduce you guys. Sokka, Katara, this is Appa. Appa, this is Sokka and Katara." Once more the Bison released a loud yawn to show his recognition of the two.

Sokka spoke up once more. "Great, now that we've all been introduced, me and Katara have to get going, it's going to be a long trek back to the village now that our boats been destroyed.

Aang took a moment to ponder before speaking, "if you guys want, me and Appa can give you a ride."

~0~

How had a fishing trip turned into this? A simple outing with his sister to secure some more food, that had been all that he signed up for. Now he was sitting on the back of a "flying" bison swimming lazily through arctic waters back to the village while Katara had an animated conversation with a boy whose sneezes carried enough power to launch him several dozen feet in the air.

To make matter worse, he hadn't even caught any fish.

In any case Sokka watched his sister and the bay through wary, though slightly defeated eyes. She talked excitedly for a bit and he responded in equally kind manner, nothing too suspicious he supposed. Then Katara got awfully quiet, "umm, Aang?" she questioned nervously, obviously a bit nervous. Sokka raised his brow and peaked his listening a bit, whatever was about to happen, it would at the very least be entertaining to watch his sisters reactions.

"Yeah?" Aang's response was simple, but he turned his head towards his sister and gave her his full attention. "I was just wondering if… you happened to know the avatar?"

Sokka almost slapped his own head at the stupidity of the question. "Katara, why would a 12 year old boy we found in a block of ice know the 100 year old man that abandoned an entire world?" He stared at his sister, his brow lowered and jaw thrust forward, showing his frustration the best he could.

"Abandoned, 100 years… what are you guys talking about? Why are firebenders such a bad thing?" Sokka stood still, his eyes wide for a moment. Then he stood up and tried his best to clear his ears before turning to the boy with a strained smile. It was one thing to be an ignorant child, that he could understand to a degree. But even the smallest children in the village now about the war. "I'm sorry, I think I may have just misheard you there. Did you just say you have NO KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE WAR!?" his voice was strained as he asked this, the boy scooted away from him as he began to shout, covering his bald head in as if to protect himself. Sokka was about to keep going but his sister grabbed him and threw her hand over his mouth.

"Stop it Sokka you're scaring him!" he thrashed about for a moment before calming a bit, slumping his shoulders to signal to Katara he was finished. Slowly, she released his mouth and stepped away. He then turned to her and gestured back to the boy, who had hid himself behind the horn of the large bison and was peering over at them tentatively. "If you believe that you can handle this better, by all means, go ahead." With that he stomped his way to the back of the saddle and closed his eyes, the best thing for him right now would be a good sleep, with any luck he would wake up back at the village, shepherd captain ignorance on his way, and this while event would be over.

~0~

She stared at her brother for a moment, her eyes raised judgementally as he laid down, his back turned to her, once she was satisfied, and sure he was asleep, she turned back to Aang who had stopped hiding behind the horn and was now leaning against it, his head in his hands, and muttering to himself, she couldn't exactly hear, but it almost sounded like he was just repeating the phrase, "abandoned" over and over again. She walked over and gingerly placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Don't let my brother scare you, he's loud, but otherwise harmless. What did you mean when you asked about the war? It sounded like you had never heard of it." she kept her voice calm and smooth, just like her mother did when she had been scared as a child.

Aang raised his head, and his eyes were wide, terror flickered in them like he was watching hundreds of people burn in front of him. He stared at her and mumbled something, "I didn't mean to, I didn't abandon you, I just didn't want to accept it."

She sighed, he was talking to himself. She didn't know about what, but for now talking to him would only be reminiscent of talking to a brick wall. She patted his shoulder once again before walking away, "I'll just leave you to yourself, we'll talk again once we reach the village."

With that she sat back down and busied herself with trying to bend the water as they rode past it, the sound of Aang's mumbling the only background besides the sounds of the ocean.

~0~

She watched with wide eyes as the ship moved in the direction of the light beam, hands tapping idly at the metal railing. "Princess," called a frail voice behind her, "it will be a while still before we reach the source and are able to investigate, it would be best if you were to return inside and get some rest, being awake for too long will damage your mind." this was a second voice, similar, but yet also different from the first. She turned to her advisers and looked upon them. Pushing the mild irritation at being approached aside she smiled at them, "While I appreciate your concerns, this is the most interesting thing that has happened for me since Uncle's coronation ceremony, let me be for now and I promise I will return below deck soon for some rest soon." Her advisers looked at each other for only a moment before they shrugged and turned back towards the the door leading into the vessel. Headed back inside.

With the nuisances gone Azula returned her gaze to the far horizon, clasping her hands together and warming them with a small puff of fire.

She was very much looking forward to finding out the source of that light. She wasn't certain, but her instincts told her that whatever was about to happen would be very, very interesting.

 **-For those who are following me for Looking Forward, I'm not stopping that story, merely dividing interests. Other than that I just want to say that I spent a good amount of time writing this, but I know I'm not the best and I'm certain there are mistakes and ways to improve, so just let me know. Thanks.**


	2. Chapter 2

Aang slowly pulled his shirt over his head, trying to move quick so as to avoid the chilling bite of the arctic air around him. He was absorbed in his own thoughts. According to Sokka, 100 years ago the avatar had vanished and soon after the Fire Nation had started a full blown war against the rest of the world. The people had at first expected the Avatar to rescue them, and had put up lackluster resistance because of that. By the time they had realized their savior wasn't coming, it was too late, and the Fire Nation had rested too much power to be realistically challenged.

The war had ended only 11 or so years ago, after the previous Fire Lord's firstborn son, General Iroh, had besieged the city of Ba Sing Se, and conquered it.

With the last great resistance of the Earth Kingdom conquered, the fire nation turned to the Northern Water Tribe, having already decimated the Southern Tribe early in the war, hoping to weed out the yet to be found Avatar.

The North put up a respectable resistance, unfortunately with their trade paths blocked and no methods to gain enough food to properly sustain the city, the resistance lost their battle of attrition, and the Fire Nation rested complete control of the world.

He felt like pounding his head and screaming. He should have been there, been able to help. But he hadn't been.

He had run away, rejected the responsibility. Then there was the storm, his memory was hazy at best, but somehow in the course of that storm he had been frozen with Appa in a block of Ice, and was only released 100 years later when Katara uncovered his iceberg in a fit of rage.

That was the kicker to him. He wasn't due to some grand fate, or destiny. If that was the case he would have escaped that iceberg 20 years ago when he would have at least had a chance to help, late though it would have been.

Instead here he was, in a world that was now confidently grasped by the fire nation. And while there was a certain level of oppression, from what he could gather, everyone was more or less resigned to their fates. Fire Lord Azulon had passed away soon after the Fire Nations victory, and the title had passed onto the successful war "hero" general Iroh. There was nothing he could do about that.

Aang was finally rested from his thoughts as he sensed the presence of eyes on his back. As he turned his head he quickly took note that Katara was there. She handed him some heavier clothes to protect him from the cold, and ushered him outside.

Once out in the biting cold of the frozen air Aang took a moment to look around. In his time proper, the Southern Water Tribe had been a large and extremely profitable city, arguably better in almost every aspect to the northern tribe. Now though, the tribe was little more than a collection of small igloos clustered together and surrounded by a child's snow fort.

Katara's brother, Sokka, was beside on the the snow walls, a group of small children gathered around him as he attempted to instruct them in important matters. Protecting the village, gathering food, and so on. Aang quickly lost interest, and looked for around to relocate Katara, there was nothing he could do about the current state of the world anymore. He was one airbender, and he didn't want to be against the entire world. Finding Katara outside the hut he had just exited, he strided over to her quickly, hoping to convince her to take him penguin sledding.

As he approached he opened his mouth and was about to call out before he noticed she was arguing with someone, an old woman it looked like.

"Gran-Gran! That is not fair to him!" She sounded upset. Aang wasn't certain, but he had a feeling that their conversation was about him. He slumped further against the walls of the igloo and tried his best to be silent as he listened.

"I don't care Katara, maybe 10 years ago this would have been different, but as it stands he is too dangerous to allow to stay here. We know nothing of this boy, who he is, or where he came from. He can stay for tonight, but tomorrow he leaves."

Sensing the end of the conversation Aang quickly bended himself up into the air, hoping the sudden burst of air would be excused as a passing arctic wind. From up high he saw Katara look around for a moment before shrugging and moving away. Stomping towards her brother by the looks of it.

Aang slowly drifted back towards the ground, the old woman's words drifting through his mind on a continuous loop. She was right, they couldn't trust him, and he very well could pose as a threat to them, for all he knew. He made up his mind, he would leave without a fuss. But for now, he still wanted to go penguin sledding.

~0~

The guilt was gnawing away at her as she looked at the boy failing so spectacularly at catching a penguin. She knew in her mind that Gran-Gran was right, and that they couldn't just take him in. but something in her heart was just so insistent that this was wrong, that there was meant to be something more at play. She couldn't argue though, all she had left was her brother and her grandmother, and neither of them wanted the young airbender to stay. As much as her heart complained about it, she wouldn't abandon her family.

~0~

Azula knelt down, grazing her fingers along the unnaturally smooth ice structure. Shattered as it was it had stood out to her even from her position atop the ship. It was something that had to be investigated.

She looked around, while the snow had come in and covered it up a bit, there was a large imprint along the back ridge, where the walls were mostly intact. Something large had been in that spot, and its form had protected the far walls from the outburst of… whatever it was that had shattered this iceberg. From that she could conclude that the source had been somewhere around her feet.

Thus she looked closer still at the ice, looking for some sort of clue. She brushed away more of the dusty snow that had settled on the ice. Yes, the ice was almost unnaturally smoo… She paused. Quickly she swept her hand in reverse. It was there.

She quickly swept away the snow dust in the area in order to look at the ice beneath, holding her breath as she brushed the last of the particles away.

She released her breath. And tilted her head to the side in confusion. Legs. there was an imprint of legs. Crossed together, like they had been meditating. This was only making things more confusing to her. If a person made a beam of light that had shot into the sky like a beacon to every ship in a hundred miles, then they must be very powerful. No one was that powerful, not even father, or uncle. The only person she could think of was the Avatar. Yes. That made sense.

Azula allowed and thin smile to spread across her face as she thought back to her schooling on the avatar. The cycle went Fire, Air, Water, Earth. The Air avatar had eluded them for so long he must have died off hiding in some cave. The cycle had continued and some lucky brat in the southern water tribe had inherited some great powers.

Quickly reboarding her ship Azula strode with purpose onto the bridge and demanded that they set course for the Southern Tribes Village.

She gazed to the horizon and smirked. This was turning out to be quite the adventure.

~0~

He stared with awe at the behemoth of metal rising into the sky before him. At his side Katara began to explain, "It's a Fire Nation Navy Vessel. A remnant from the war."

He didn't want to believe it, but now he was faced with hard, tangible evidence. What he had been told was not some elaborate joke, or a miscommunication. He swallowed the lump in his throat, and finally spoke. "I'm going in."

Katara gasped and grabbed at him as he started forwards, grabbing hold of his wrist, "wait!" she shouted, "we're not supposed to go in there, it's forbidden! Besides, it might be booby-trapped."

Aang paused for only a brief moment before pulling his wrist from her hands. "I have to go," he said, his voice strained from effort, he was trying so hard not to cry, not to admit to himself the reality of the situation, but he had to, he had to embrace things for what they were, or he would never be able to move on. "You and Sokka both told me about a war I have no idea ever happened, insist that the world _I_ know, where the four nations live in harmony, Is a relic from 100 years ago, but I'm standing right here, I know my own memories, that just last week I went to the fire nation to visit friend of mine, and then to the earth kingdom to visit another. There is an impossibility there. By your own logic, I am 112 years old. Do I look like a 112 year old man to you?!"

His voice was too loud, he was shouting, but it was the only option he had, he didn't want to shed tears over this, so he forced himself to be mad, to get angry over the evident truth as he was informed of it.

If he was lucky Katara would break down, and finally admit that it was all just a big prank, elaborate, but fictional.

She didn't do that though. Instead he watched as she flinched away from him as he raised his voice. Her response came as only a whisper, "You can do whatever you want, I'm not your guardian, and I'm returning to the village." she turned and slowly walked away, returning in the direction they had come, to the smoke of the village fires rising into the orange sky of the setting sun.

As he watched her go he continued to stare until she had returned back over the hill and was out of sight. With her gone, he turned on a heel and began towards the towering metal structure in front of him. He didn't know what he was going to find, but he hoped that whatever it was, it gave him answers.

~0~

Katara trudged her way back to the village, wiping the wetness away from her eyes as she went. It didn't make any sense for her to cry, on some level she understood that. But everything that she had come to know about Aang over the past few hours was so contradictory, at first he was so jovial and light hearted, then all of the sudden he was depressed and sad, and just now he was so angry that it was enough for him to just blow up at her. She was just so confused, nothing about the strange boy in the iceberg made any sense to her at all.

Her village would be back in sight soon, so she stopped for a moment and recollected herself. It would be no good for her to come back in a mess, not for her or anyone else. Especially if Sokka picked up on it. Knowing her overly zealous brother he would take any opportunity he would get to throw Aang out even faster.

With her thoughts recollected and her composure secure for the most part, Katara moved forward again, dragging her thick boots through the heavy layer of snow.

Katara stopped dead.

Her mind raced for a logical explanation for what she was seeing, but just couldn't, her village was right where it usually was, but it was different. Now, where there had once stood an icey wall and a poorly made guard tower, a massive expanse of dark metal rose from exposed arctic waters. A ship was parked halfway inside of her village, the fire nation flag waving proudly in the wind from the top of its bridge.

Katara began to sprint forward , moving as fast as she could. Why was the Fire Nation back? Last time they had come they had taken the very last of the villages water benders, her mother included. What could they possibly take from them now. She was breathing hard and the village walls still seemed impossibly far away. She just hoped that no one would be hurt when she got there.

~0~

Sokka stood staring as viciously as she could at the girl standing across from him, his boomerang held in two hands in front of him. The girl was eying him now, her posture relaxed, chin held in her hands as she dragged her eyes across his body starting from his feet.

"Your resolve is admirable, but stance leaves something to be desired," her words startled Sokka and he jerked in response, the only sound coming from him being a choked off "What" and the crunch of the snow shifting with his weight.

The girl laughed, "Your stance peasant, your feet are far too close together, I doubt you have any balance at all in an actual battle scenario. That and the death grip you have on your… boomerang, is far too tight."

Sokka could not believe what he was hearing. This fire nation girl drives her ship into his village, breaking his watchtower _again,_ terrifies everyone in the village, and then has the gall to correct him on his _fighting stance?!_

"It's a better stance than anything a _girl_ could do," Sokka said, he was a boy, and the most capable person in the village, one skinny girl had no right to question his capabilities… or to terrify him as much as this one did.

The girls eyes flashed and her brow lowered angrily at him, "I'm sorry," she said, her voice dripping with anger, "I must be hard of hearing at the moment, did you just insinuate that my abilities were sub-par to your mockery of a fighting stance?" Sokka gulped, but stood his ground, girls weren't as tough as men, that was a fact he knew, that's why they had the social roles they did, men did the fighting, women the cooking, it was that way for a reason, this girl had to be bluffing. "Y.. Yeah, your just a girl, there's no way you can beat me in a fi… aughh!" Sokka found his sentence cut off as his vision suddenly changed from the terrifying women to the white clouds in the sky. His feet left the ground and soon after a pain shot through his arms to his wrists and out his hands. His muscles spasmed as the tension from gripping his weapon was rapidly released and his boomerang dropped uselessly to the ground.

Sokka found himself lying flat on the ground, the girl standing above him, and a very hot sensation uncomfortably close to his throat. The girl was staring him in the eyes, her scowl ruining what would otherwise have been a very beautiful face. She spoke in harsh, direct words, "I am going to give you one chance you rescind your words now, or I will sever your empty head from your body and deliver the whole world a service."

Sokka swallowed his call of an unfair battle before opening his mouth in order to profusely beg for his life. He never got his chance however, as right as he opened his mouth the girl was blasted off of him by a jet of water, to his side he heard a familiar voice shouting, "Leave him alone!"

He turned his head to see his kid sister standing there, defiant eyes looking at the woman angrily as she stood. The woman was smiling. "Ah, there you are," was all Sokka heard before the woman dashed forwards towards his sister, so fast he could only shout to his sister, "Katara, RUN!"

~0~

Weapons and bodies. These were two things that Aang was never able to handle. The air nomads taught the path of spiritual enlightenment through pacifism, that in order to master the wind, one had to be like the wind, everpresent, but only harmful in the most dire of conditions. He had embraced that lifestyle so completely because it felt like a very proper way of doing things. It was the fact that he so strongly followed the Air Nomads way of teaching that he had gotten his tattoos at such a young age, when most were granted the tattoos they were around 30 to 40 years old, he had been 11. Of course, his own specific situation likely helped a great deal.

Yet here he stood, supposedly 100 years into the future, standing in a giant metal coffin housing dozens of withered corpses and weaponry. Aang has to admit to himself that whatever was going on, this was more than likely the future. There were things even on this old and dilapidated vessel that seemed impossible when he was living in the temples. A vessel powered not by the elements but by an aspect of human engineering. The vessel itself was a miracle as far as he was concerned.

Aang tripped over something and stumbled forwards. He looked back and quickly looked forward again. A frozen arm. He felt he was about to lose his hold on the contents of his stomach.

Moving onwards. That was his best course of action. Move on and try to find somewhere that wasn't filled with death and violence. Aang was not a fool. He was well aware that war required violence, no matter what there would be violence in some part. He just did not like being around it.

The ship was… disturbing. There was an eerie emptiness to traversing its passageways alone. It almost was as if at any moment one of these corpses would raise itself from its frozen grave. Aang shuddered at the thought, he could barely handle death when it wasn't in motion, if it started now he was liable to enter… no. He wouldn't even entertain the thought process.

There was a light ahead. Likely the bridge of the vessel. Aang hurried towards it. He craved the light, the safety of daytime, or nighttime, or anything other than the ominous chill of these decrepit hallways.

Reaching the doorway he threw open the metal doorway and stepped inside, hardly paying attention to his surroundings. As soon as he entered he felt his foot catch, and quietly berated himself as a quick burst of air prevented him from hitting his face on the hard floor.

The ship came alive.

Aang couldn't help but groan as the ship began to screech and moan as long dormant gears sprang into motion, above his head something began to move in the pipes before reaching a tube pointing into the open air above the vessel. Aang could see the pipes exit from the hole in the ceiling and watched as an emergency flair was quickly shot up into the air shining brightly in the amber sky of the setting sun. He felt a lump in his throat as he watched the beacon ascend. Whatever he had just done. It wasn't going to be good.

 **Chapter 2 done, rather tough for me, as I now know that even if the music is instrumental, If i know the words to that song, there going to be all that I think about it. makes writing hard. Anywho I just wanted to post this and get it out there, Fear not if you believe the writing is sub par, it will eventually be rewritten... maybe. Toodles.**


	3. Chapter 3

She always found sparring with waterbenders to be interesting. The ways they coiled water around them, using the single strand to both attack and defend with such precision and accuracy. It was fascinating the movements involved in the art.

But those were trained professionals, fighting for whatever advantages they could get in the Fire Nation Controlled North. What she was fighting now could hardly be considered anything like those.

Her moves were sloppy, and haphazard, like she only understood the bare minimum of what it took to make the water do as she commanded. It was just so… boring. If this was the Avatar, as she currently believed, it was the most pathetic excuse for a being of legendary proportions she had ever encountered.

She decided to end things quickly, no point in drawing out a boring fight, it was no fun. She dodged and weaved between the streaks of water launched her way before she lashed her hand out, striking the pressure point between two of the girls ribs before chopping at her neck to put her down for a while.

The girl collapsed to the ground in a heap. To the side Azula heard the imbecile shouting out what she assumed was the girls name. Katara. Actually a quite beautiful name. Azula used the toes of her boots to move the girls face towards her. A pretty name for a pretty girl.

The foolish chauvinist was back on his feet now, weapon in hand and charging at her. She didn't want to deal with him. As he approached, his stupid boomerang held above his head like a some kind of idiotic battleaxe she once again dropped low and sweeped his feet out from under him, hitting him on the neck as he went down. She really would have to thank Ty Lee for showing her that particular trick.

With the two siblings disabled Azula turned to the soldiers standing by at the nose of the ship. "Get the girl on board and tell the captain to prepare to leave." She barked her order before she began to march her way back on board, her frustration building.

She had hoped that she would have been able to find at least some level of challenge in the avatar of all people, but instead all she had found was a barely trained girl and her idiot of a brother in a worthless village full of cowards. She turned to look back at the village. The boy still lay unconscious in the snow, an old woman standing over him, looking at her with disgust, while the rest of the village hid behind building peering out at her. She shot them a devilish smirk and began to turn back inside the ship.

Azula paused midstep. The unmistakable sound of a navy ship distress beacon was echoing through the village. Swiveling her head she scanned the horizon for the source before locating it, there was the flare, falling back to the earth. Well, might as well check it out while she was here, even though to her knowledge she was the only active vessel in the area.

She turned to the soldiers currently loading the unconscious waterbender into the ship, upon noticing her gaze the two paused to look at her. With their attention captured she relayed her orders, "once you get her aboard secure the village and wait for me to return, no one gets aboard the ship or out of the village." The soldiers, unable to salute with their arms occupied, presented her with the best tense nod they could to show their understanding, then resumed the task at hand.

Confident in her mens ability to accomplish basic tasks Azula turned back in the direction of the flare, the smoke trail fading into the wind, but still just visible for her to pinpoint a direction. A small smirk spread across her face as she took off, heading in the direction of the distress signal.

~0~

He had to get away, and quick, the whole in the roof seemed tempting enough, but based on what he heard from Sokka and Katara, the airbenders were gone, and use of his airbending had the potential to display that he was an oddity, it may not prove his biggest hidden secret, but it would give him unwanted attention, which was something that he desperately wanted to avoid, at least for now. He also didn't want to go back through the ship though, the mere thought of the eerie halls made a shiver run down his spine.

He had to make a choice, use airbending to get through the hole, or run back through the ship to exit near the base. His eyes danced between the door and the roof as he struggled to make a decision, Bending, creepy hallway, bending, creepy hallway, bending… "Aaaargh!" he screamed in frustration.

Aang looked out the windows of the bridge, searching for signs of anyone of the shining snow around the vessel. He couldn't see anyone, _good enough_ , he thought and quickly wound up in order to make a quick escape through the hole in the roof, not noticing the appearance of a new figure, dashing over the hills towards the wrecked ship, directly towards him.

~0~

As the wrecked ship came into view Azula considered slowing down for a moment before deciding against it and powering onwards, though slightly less excited from before. If the beacon had come from some old abandoned vessel it was entirely likely that the beacon had simply been triggered by some falling piece of ice, or simply faulty mechanisms.

She sighed to herself. She had decided on accompanying this routine patrol of the south simply because it was the most untamed of the conquered fire nation territories. The war had ended before she had been able to participate at all, and after Iroh had ascended to the throne, father had lost some of his ambition and laid back on her training in fire bending. Deciding instead to try and gain as much power as he could by acting as one of his brothers advisors. At first she had been lost, she had already been so far along in her training, her father had so many plans for her that he just… gave up on. Azula craved the excitement, she had needed something to happen, but nothing did.

At first she had made her own adventures, mainly by causing trouble and bothering ZuZu, but her mother had caught wind of it and sternly cut her off before she could go to far, no one would hurt her precious son. Not even her daughter.

Eventually causing trouble around the palace grew boring, and Azula was left with few options. At the peak of her boredom she had gone to her uncle and asked to be admitted into the military, if she couldn't have joined into the war she would at least participate in the quelling of rebellions.

And so she found herself here, running into an abandoned ship. This was not the excitement that she had wanted. Not the excitement at all.

There was motion near the bridge, probably just some falling ice, but Azula slowed still in order to look that way, her trainer had always told her, "never dismiss something you think is insignificant as it will often cause you to miss out on opportunity.

Her jaw dropped. Then, as if it was happening in slow motion, her lips spread into a large cheshire style grin. A boy, soaring into the air like he the winds themselves were carrying him upwards. That could not be explained by much. No machinery was capable of such feats, nor had was there any bending techniques that could give such height. Well… none from fire, earth, or water.

That left Azula with one option left. What she was witnessing was an airbender, an honest to goodness airbender. Her grin grew wider still. An airbender, she had never fought an airbender before, maybe this would be the interesting battle that she was looking for. She watched the boy, based on his trajectory he would land outside the hull of the downed vessel… right in front of her. She let her grin grow only a bit larger before forcing it away and stealing her face, never show emotion in battle, lesson 13.

~0~

He had to admit from the view from the sky was breathtaking. Aang loved flying, the feeling of the wind in his face, the sense of weightlessness, and the view, no matter where he went in the world the view from the air always amazed him, whether he saw rolling green hills, or vast and imposing mountain ranges rising in the distance, from the air, the world blended together and gave a feeling of connection. Without intimate knowledge of the worlds map, borders were meaningless in the skys.

With that in mind Aang took his moment of respite to appreciate the arctic landscape he had found himself in, in the west, the setting sun set the icey fields alight and they sparkled like flawless gemstones, broken up by the shadows casting jagged and spiked shadows. In the distance he could just make out the village in the…

Something was wrong.

There was something in the village that was not there when he had left, from what he could see it was a giant ship, similar in shape to the one he had just jumped out of, but longer, with wide open deck gracing its front. It was halfway inside of the village, the path of broken ice it had left in its wake clear as day.

Aang began to worry, what had happened, could anyone have been hurt, were they in trouble.

Katara.

She had been headed back to the village when he had decided to enter the ship below him. Was she alright? Aang needed to get back, he had already failed once, he couldn't stop that, but he could help now, like he was supposed to.

Aang forced the winds that had been allowing him to gently float back to the ground away and began to plummet back to the earth, leaving himself only enough cushion that his legs would not shatter upon impact with the ice below. Even still he hit the ground hard. He tried to get to his feet as fast as he could to begin running towards the village but before he could the area directly to the left of him exploded into sapphire blue flames. Aang spun on his heel to face behind himself, there was a girl standing there, two fingers extended outwards pointed at him. She smiled menacingly.

"Good, now I have your attention. Wouldn't want the fight to be over too fast." Her voice dripped with… he actually couldn't tell, it was odd, like some strange mix of bloodlust, excitement and… hesitation? That was on odd mixture. In any case Aang was not in the mood for a fight, especially one with a firebender of such strange composure. "I don't know who you are, but I really don't want to fight you, please, just let me go," Aang figured it was worth it to at least try to talk his way out of it, one never knew, sometimes the best way to win a fight was to avoid starting. The girl tipped her head at him, and seemed to take a moment to think before giving him a shake. "Sorry, but I do." Her last words barely had even left her mouth before she pushed her other hand out towards Aang, and those breathtaking blue flames leapt forwards in his direction once again.

~0~

He was a nimble one, surprisingly young too, she placed him at maybe, two years younger than herself, however, despite his young age he was obviously very skilled with his element. Every shot she fired she grew more and more annoyed, as he lept effortlessly away from her attacks, each time landing with the grace of a feather floating to the ground, and yet, despite his slow descents he seemed to always move away.

It was exhilarating. In the past whenever she fought someone, no matter how skilled, how knowledgeable they had been, they weren't able to fight for long, they were simply out matched by her, a young girl. It was a pride shattering affair really, she had fought and destroyed masters, and now here she was struggling against a 12 year old boy. She laughed, her initial frustration dissipating entirely as she grew more and more invested. The boy could dodge, but she wanted to know if he could fight, with that in mind she pressed her onslaught even harder, throwing more fire with smaller gaps, he'd have to strike eventually, everyone had a breaking point, it was only a matter of time before she found his.

~0~

This blue fire burned hot. He couldn't bargain with her, and he doubted she would let him run, no matter how much he wanted to. This was looking like he was running out of options. He didn't want to fight, but he was running out of options. "Listen!" he shouted, "before I fight here, I want to ask you a question," if he was going to fight like she wanted, she was going to answer his questions, equivalent exchange, even if it was a under very odd circumstances. Her response was quick, no breaks formed in her attacks, "I don't believe you are in a position to be making requests here Airbender, but fine."

Aang smiled, this was a weirdly polite battle, but he would take it, "What happened to the village? Is anyone hurt?" This caused a very small break in her attacks, and he took the chance. With a burst of air he pushed forwards tackling the girl and pinning her arms and legs to the ground best he could. "Aaaand, fight over, answer the questions please."

~0~

She couldn't force her mouth closed, it had been a cheap move, but she had been told to expect that, how could she have forgotten, rule 1, there are no rules on the battlefield.

Now she was trapped, her arms and legs pinned and her bending subdued with a boy staring at her face waiting for an answer to a stupid question. He tilted his head in curiosity, a stern look gazing into her eyes.

She couldn't help it, this was all too silly for her, "you can get off of me, I'll tell you, it's not like you alone could do anything, you're not the avatar, we already got her."

The boy's grip tightened, "what do you mean you got _her_?" Azula stared back at him, her face blank, "the young waterbender girl, she's the avatar, that's the cycle, Fire, Air, Water, Earth, somewhere out there some old airbender passed away and then her turn came up, it's so odd though, none of the sages sensed the avatars demise, you would think they would cue into that kind of thing. But i guess every once and a while things slip through the cracks, I'll have to inform father about this when I return, someone's going to be punished." she was smiling by the end of her sentence, the boy was confused, which was good, exactly what she needed, as quick as she could she hooked her foot inside of his leg and flipped the boy over, pinning him like he had done only moments before.

Now on top of the airbender she took a moment to look at his face, speaking while she did so, "Now, while this has been fun, I really must get going, avatar to deliver and what not," after getting a good look, she had to admit, the boy was quite handsome, with the boyish charm that she could already tell was going to turn into the well defined characteristics of a good man. "Hmmm… not bad, tell you what, when you can move again, come find me, we'll spar again."

The boy was about to speak, but was quickly cut off as Azula delivered a quick peck to his lips then delivered a series of blows to his to side, disabling his motor functions, once again, she really would have to thank Ty Lee, these pressure points were just so incredibly useful. Standing to leave, she gave one final wave goodbye to the paralyzed boy. "Until next time airbender!" With those parting words she began to quickly dash back to the ship, feeling the boys gaze on her the entire time.

 **CHAPTER THREE! I'm actually having a good bit of fun writing this, so the chapters are coming quick right now. Don't get used to that, I'm still a student so I'm not absolutely full of free time, I just happen to have quite a bit of it right now. Still, I'm having a blast writing this and I am getting some awesome feedback, HI DAD!**


	4. Chapter 4

Sokka awoke to a headache and some very much in pain muscles, he rubbed the back of his neck as he sat up, groaning in pain, and tried to recollect what had happened, Katara and Aang went out, then the fire nation ship showed up and… "Katara!" He bolted upright, ignoring his body screaming at him to stop, and ran outside.

The village mood was somber, and the ship was gone.

Sokka felt the will slip from his body as he fell to his knees. They had taken Katara, his sister, she was the only thing that he had left. His dad was gone, a casualty of war, His mom was gone, killed in a fire nation raid, and now they had taken his sister. Sokka wanted to scream, to pound his fist on the ground and demand that his sister be returned to him. But he couldn't do that, all he could do was sit there and whisper to himself in rejection of the hand fate had dealt him. He couldn't resist the Fire Nation, no one could. The world had lost that war, and this was the consequence of that loss.

The crunching of snow nearby finally caused him to look up, and his face clouded with anger, he spit out the words with as much venom he could in greeting, "you." Aang stood there his head held low as he stood before Sokka, he whispered something to Sokka, but he didn't care to hear it, instead Sokka decided to let his anger flow on to this boy, who for whatever reason seemed to be a catalyst for everything going wrong in his life. "You know, everything was fine before you showed up. The Fire Nation won the war 10 years ago, things were calm, and save for the patrol ships, we were able to live undisturbed. Then you appear with your magic beams into the sky, and your fancy air tricks, and all of the sudden there is a fire nation ship ramming into my village and TAKING MY SISTER!" Sokka's face was red as he screamed at Aang, "Why are you even still hanging around, come to ask to go penguin sledding again?! Or maybe Ice Fishing?! I can tell you right now that isn't going to happen! Just get on your stupid bison and ride away, and don't come back."

Aang shrunk away from Sokka, and whispered something "... back,"

"What was that Air Boy, I didn't hear you," Sokka leaned in closer and turned his ear to Aang's head, his hand cupped. Aang spoke again and this time, Sokka could hear him, if only just barely, "I'll get her back."

Sokka just scoffed, "sure kid, and I'm gonna kill the fire lord, keep dreaming, and just leave."

Aang's face was set, and his eyes roamed over the seas below him from atop Appa's head, he had been searching for a little over two hours, but still couldn't see any sign of the ship. Whatever that girl had done to him, it had lasted far too long. They had a sizable head start. But he was gaining, he could sense it.

Finally off in the distance, he could just make something out. A smoke trail, that was it, that had to be his target. Aang turned his head downwards and spoke to his Bison, urging it to go just a little bit faster. "Come on Appa, just a bit more, we're almost there."

The huge animal roared in response, and its huge tail began to flap up and down, pushing the pair into even higher gear, the distant smokestack growing larger by the second. "Hang on Katara," Aang's words were lost to the stronger winds, but the look of determination on his face cut through them, like a knife through heated butter.

~0~

When she had come to, Katara wasn't exactly sure where she was, A metal room, with no decorative features, just her and a small cloth mat on the floor, and two blazing braziers providing the light for her to see. There were no windows, so she wasn't entirely sure what time it was either.

This was never a good sign, to wake up in an unknown, unmarked location. After she was certain that there was nothing that could be of interest to her on this half of the room, Katara slowly turned herself to face the wall opposite.

As soon as she did, she gasped and her eyes grew wide and she scrambled away from the wall. There were few things she didn't want to wake up to, and one was almost definitely a huge banner with the insignia of the Fire Nation.

The door made a sound and Katara whipped her head back around to look. It was open, and the girl from the village was now standing in the doorway, looking at her. "Good you're awake. I must say though you took much, much longer to wake up than most people do. I was beginning to fear that I had hit you too hard and all I would be delivering to my father would be the corpse of an Avatar, and we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

The girl had this odd way of talking, an mix of condescending, elegance, and causality. She couldn't grasp the concept behind it. "What do you mean Avatar? I'm just a girl from the southern water tribes, I'm as capable of bending the other 3 elements as you are." The girl stopped examining her nails and looked over at her, "It's no use pretending, it makes sense really, The last avatar disappeared 100 years ago, so whatever that old fogey of an airbender was doing, he must have passed away, and here you are, It lines up, you see?" Katara blinked at the leap in logic made there, "And what makes you think that I am the next iteration?" she tried her best to emphasize the me, "I saw the light beam obviously, I'm not entirely sure how or what caused it, but there are only so many things that can cause something like that."

"Beam? What Beam are you…" Katara trailed off, there was a beam of light, when she and Sokka had released Aang from the iceberg. "Hold on, you've got the wrong girl here!" The girl laughed, "Really now, I do? Please then, tell who it is I'm looking for."

Katara opened her mouth to speak, but she was quickly cut off by someone pounding on the door to the cell. "Princess Azula, you're needed!" the girl sighed, and moved towards the door, as she left she turned her head to look back at her, "By for now Avatar, don't go anywhere." No sooner had she said the words did the door close, and katara was left alone.

~0~

Azula marched ahead of the soldier who had retrieved her, moving quickly towards the bridge and grumbling to herself as she went. The girl was nowhere near as fun to toy with as the airbender, her reactions were so obvious to everything. She honestly believed she wasn't the avatar, so that was something, but her eyes had flared in recognition when Azula had mentioned the sky beam. She knew something, but had been preparing to lie when they were interrupted. She could tell it in the way she had tensed up right before she was about to speak, tying to remain as collected has possible to seem truthful, funny how many times a person's attempt to hide their lies would give them away.

She had reached the bridge by now, and didn't bother knocking as she threw the doors open and barged inside. " Alright, I'm here, what is it?" She made her demand quick, hoping for a quick answer that would skip all the brown-nosing. She was disappointed.

'Princess Azula, thank you so much for arriving so quickly, might I just say that you look absolutely stunning tonight, truly a…" Azula didn't have time for this, "Save your bootlicking for my Uncle Captain, and tell me what it is you needed." The captain gave a quick grunt in surprise as he was cut off, but did at least lament, and get to the point. "Yes my lady, we've spotted an object approaching us rather quickly, we couldn't tell exactly but it looked like a… flying bison, madam."

That got her attention, "Show me," she demanded, and she was quickly handed and spyglass and had a general direction pointed out to her. Bringing the device to her eyes she scanned the horizon for a moment before sighting the target, indeed it was a flying bison, with a small figure riding it's head, from what she could see, she made and educated guess as to who it was. And a small smile spread across her lips once again.

"Prep the deck for a landing, and get a welcome part together, we have a visitor."

~0~

As Aang settled Appa down on the deck of the ship he took a moment to assess the situation, there were 15 soldiers positioned in a circle around him, that was to his advantage, if things turned sour all it would take would be one command to his Sky Bison and the great beast could create a wind funnel strong enough to throw everyone into the sea, then while Appa kept that up he would be able to search the ship for Katara.

"You can stop your scheming you know. If I had any intention of fighting you again I would've started by knocking you out of the sky 15 minutes ago. We'll do it peacefully this time, unless that is, you _want_ to get… rough." the girls, elegant flow of speech caught Aang off guard. She actually wanted to talk this time? Aang let out a relieved breath, he really did not want to start an unnecessary fight.

"Do you know why I'm here?" He knew this girl was smart, but he wasn't sure she was aware of anything other than a passing connection between him and the village, but he would be able to confirm it here.

The girl rested a finger on her chin as she feigned a thoughtfulness, her eyes sparkling in the brief rays of moonlight now beginning to peek through the overcast cloud layer. _She has such pretty eyes._ Aang shook his head, this was not the time for his pubescent thoughts, that kiss she gave him was still lingering in the back of his mind however, and he couldn't help his gaze wandering, if only ever so slightly from those pretty eyes, to her skinny, perfectly symmetrical nose\, down to those soft looking lips… Damnit!

Her mouth began to move, and Aang had to force his mind away from her physical features in order to listen. "Well, as fun as it was, I can't say I think you were that eager for a rematch, so that leaves me with two options really. Either I'm so good a kisser that you simply had to come to me, as you have fallen head over heels in love," she gave pause after that to give him an appraising glance, "and based on your current… status, I'd say that is perfectly plausible."

Aang was shocked for a quick moment, before quickly contorting himself in a quick attempt to hide whatever it was that she was seeing. The girl laughed, "relax, it's not that obvious, or at least it wasn't before you did… that, I'm just _very_ observant. Anyway, moving one, I'd say the other option is you are here for _my_ avatar."

He had to give her credit, her deductive ability was quite strong, after all, she had pinpointed his exact reason as one of her options. "Look, I don't have the time for games here, just give Katara back!" He was going for an intimidating tone of voice, but a rather unfortunate voice crack as the word games passed through his lips left his sentence feeling weak, and completely devoid of authority. Aang felt his face grow red, this was not the best timing for his age to shine through.

The girl laughed very loudly, "You seek to demand things of me?! What could you possibly give me that I could not just take or buy? You are speaking to the crown princess of the Fire Nation! We rule over the entire world." Aang was starting to get angry, there was only so much mocking and being talked down to that a boy could take, even at the hands of a pretty girl.

"SHUT UP!" he shouted throwing clenched fists at the ground and creating a gust of air that blew away most of the firebenders surrounding him. Noticing his companions actions, Appa roared before sending the remaining soldiers flying into the murky waters surrounding the vessel. Only Aang the the supposed "Princess" remained standing, an while she did seem mildly flustered a his outburst she quickly regained her composure, Aang had bought himself a few moments at best, he could already hear her soldiers in the water below swimming back to the boat.

"Well, that was impressive, I suppose this means that we're going with option one, a rematch, honestly I can't complain about that, it'll be so much fun." her last words rolled off her tongue with sinister intent before she leapt at him, throwing azure flames at a rapid speed. Aang leapt out of the way then countered with a horizontal line of air launched from his staff, The princess made to leap out of the way, but the line caught the bottom of her feet and she slammed facefirst into the metal deck of the ship. Aang pressed forward, trying to seize advantage, but just as quick as she went down she sprang upwards, spinning on her hands to create a ring of flames the spread in all directions around herself. He couldn't dodge quick enough and the flames caught Aang square on the chest, burning through the front of his shirt and singing what little chest hair he had managed to acquire clean off.

Aang recovered quickly, blowing out the flames as he pushed the princess away from himself, creating a strong distance between them. He was watching her movements carefully, Aang was no fool, he knew he wouldn't beat this girl using only airbending, it would simply be a stalemate until her soldiers managed to get back on board, to the side her heard a splash as Appa knocked a soldier back into the water, he would have a little bit more time at least, but he desperately needed to get his plan complete, and fast.

~0~

If she had to guess based on the sounds of conflict resonating from above her, Katara would have said that the peace talks for whatever was happening out there had broken down. But that was of no matter to her, it wasn't like she could help, the princess had unfortunately been smart enough to lock the door before she left the room, and she didn't have any water to work with either. She sat herself down on the "bed" that had been so graciously added to her cell. She would have to wait and see as to what happened, either the princess would win and her situation would remain unchanged, or she would lose and then… well, Katara would cross that bridge when it came.

~0~

Azula had to admit, when he was prepared and willing to participate, the airbender was a much better fighter than he had appeared the first time. For every blow she landed against him, he would get one against her, admittedly on the surface level he looked clearly more damaged, sporting several angry red burns and his clothing was almost in tatters. But she was feeling the affects of the battle nonetheless, it was just that her armor held together much better than the light cloth of the airbenders robes.

The airbender shifted, and Azula paused. He had changed his stance, he was no longer in the light footed, floaty stance he had the entire time before, but now he stepped into the more sure footed, stable stance of a firebender, she was confused, what could that boy possibly do in that… Azula was unable to finish her thought before the boy thrust his fist forwards towards her.

And a ball of flame shot outwards, racing across the deck and towards her face… before dying out mere inches away from her.

She was in shock, only recovering when the boy once again tackled her to the ground, just like in the arctic. She looked upwards at the boy, and gave him a smirk, "it would seem that I have the wrong person in my brig, don't I, Avatar?"

The boy looked down at her, his brow furrowed and sweat making the arrow running across his head gleam in the light of the moon, now out in full force. He was still breathing heavy as he opened his mouth to speak. "Now… can we… talk?"

 **Want some something more? Here's Chapter 4! No big updates personally for this chapter, So instead I'm going to use my little end note here to clarify something about the chapter you just read, No, Aang did not just learn firebending, all he did was copy Azula's movements, and it was a pretty bad imitation too, thus it dissipated before actually reaching her, the fireball he created was big yes, but that's because he was mad, so it was still overall a very crude attempt at firebending. That is all.**

 **PS: Not a big spoiler or anything but it has the potential to be one as it concerns Aang's overall skillset as he will progress through this series, So if you don't want to know anything further about How Aang will grow powerwise, stop reading here.**

 **Are they gone? Good. Alright for those that do read this, I'm looking for suggestions on interesting combinations of bending styles, for example, in this story Aang is going to be combining Firebending and Airbending to make more powerful fire, because for those of you who remember that good science shtuff, Oxygen + Fire = bigger fire, I want him to be creative with his methods, not just using the four elements depending on the situation, so if you have a good Idea either leave a comment about it or send me a message about it. alright. stupid long Author note over, you may resume your day.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Let me get this straight, you say you will willing go with me to the fire nation, but in exchange you want me to let the water tribe girl go, as well as allow you to make a few stops on the way there?" Azula rubbed her temples as she reiterated the Avatar's demands, across from her the boy was sitting at table, a large smile on his face and he nodded enthusiastically, "Yup!" he said it so carefree, like it wasn't less than an hour ago that they were engaged in a ruthless duel, "One other thing though, I want you to teach me firebending, if it's okay."

Azula honestly could not bring together the words that she needed in order to state how confusing the situation was, but, there was really only one option that she could go with here, especially seeing as how she had already sent a messenger hawk to her uncle stating that she had acquired something that he would be extremely interested in, though she was thanking her past self right now for being so needlessly vague in her description of _what_ exactly she had acquired.

"Alright, that all seems reasonable enough, but how do I know that you will not simply run off the moment I set the water tribe girl go?"

That seemed to stump the boy for a moment, as he looked upwards towards the ceiling and cupped his chin in thought, dragging his thumb across his jawline. "Well…" he started, "I suppose if it makes you feel better, you could accompany me wherever I go, and for anytime I'm on board you can keep me in a cell, and if you really want, I would be okay with being chained to you," Azula caught the sly tone in the boys voice, she glanced over at him, only to see his eyes dancing around the room, looking anywhere except directly at her. Obviously he was particularly interested in that option, admittedly she couldn't say she was entirely uninterested in it herself, but she wouldn't give him that satisfaction, at least, not yet.

Azula turned to the guard standing at the ready by the doorway, "prep the prisoner for release," She ordered sharply before turning back to the airbender across from her and outstretching a hand, "It would appear we have a deal avatar, though I suppose, based on your conditions, that we will be traveling companions for a some time and as such it might be more appropriate to at the very least know each other's _actual_ names. So you may call me Azula." The boy did not hesitate to grasp her hand and shake it enthusiastically, "I'm Aang!" there was still so much, cheeriness, in his voice, it was oddly refreshing to the young princess. "It's a pleasure to be traveling with you Azula."

~0~

Katara didn't know what to expect when the door opened again, but the one thing she didn't expect was for a fire nation soldier to enter and lead her out the door. "Come along," the guard spoke quick and to the point, but Katara resisted still, planting herself as firmly as she could. "I'm not going anywhere till you tell me what's going on." The guard looked at her for a few moments before releasing a sigh, and pessing his masked face into his palm, "I don't get paid enough for the cloak and dagger bullshit" he muttered before turning back to her, "you're being released madam wiseass, the princess struck a deal with the _real_ avatar."

That gave Katara pause, _the real avatar? What does that even mean?_ She didn't have time to ponder further on the subject however as the guard quickly pulled her along, leading her to the top deck.

If being released wasn't a shock enough, the scene on the top deck was almost enough to make her jaw hit the floor, Aang was standing there next to Appa, his hands clasped behind his back and the princess standing behind him. Once he saw her Aang gave Katara a sheepish wave. As she got close Katara was finally able to speak up, "Aang? Why are you here? What's going on? How did you even get here?" All Aang did was smile shyly at her before speaking up, "That's a lot to explain, with not a whole lot of time to explain, the important thing is you're going home, now get up on Appa, if you would please."

Katara did as Aang requested, and as she settled into the bison's saddle, it finally clicked. She scrambled over to the side of the saddle looking at Aang shouting at him, "Aang your the…" She wasn't able to complete her sentence however, as she was interrupted by a shout of "Yip Yip!" then Appa roared, and just like that Katara was soaring in the air on a flying bison, looking back at a ship fading into the distance as she headed back in the direction of her home.

~0~

Aang watched as Appa faded away into the distance. Overall, he would ay his plan had generally worked out, of course he would have preferred it if he could've avoided fighting Azula entirely, but she had made him mad, and he couldn't for the life of himself think of an easier way of proving a claim of "Oh, by the way, I'm the avatar," other than to prove it my bending an element other than air.

"Mmmhmm," the noise from Azula forced Aang to turn towards her, "well," she started, "Seeing as we now have to wait a day for your Bison to return, how about we get some rest, then we can get started on the final request of yours."

Aang smiled widely at the attractive young girl, "That sounds fantastic!" he shouted. Azula flinched at his sudden volume, but a small, genuine smile, was on her face. It was the prettiest Aang had ever seen the princess, not with the evil smiles, or the smirks, but with this soft smile of actual happiness, she seemed to be absolutely gorgeous, especially illuminated by the moonlight on a night like tonight.

Azula turned to the guards and relayed her orders, "Take the Avatar to one of the spare rooms, but make sure to keep the door locked and guarded." As he was led away Aang looked over his shoulder back at the princess and shot her a big smile. He wasn't entirely sure why, but he just had a really good feeling about the events that were about to come.

~0~

As the first rays of the morning sun began to shine over the horizon, Sokka looked out across the vast ocean and sighed. It had only been yesterday that he and his sister had returned to the village with a strange boy they had found in a block of ice. Now he sat alone, gazing across the seas wondering what was going to happen to her. He picked up his boomerang, it polished metal gleaming. Some warrior he was, not even able to protect his sister.

Winding up his arm he threw the boomerang as hard as he could and watched as it disappeared into the distant sky, shining the whole way.

Sokka rubbed his eyes, and did a double take. Something was _flying_ towards the village. Throwing his head back Sokka groaned, "not again." he complained to whatever divine entity had decided to curse him with all these events happening back to back.

Sokka grabbed his sword and stood up mentally preparing himself for whatever it was that was about to…

He knew that unknown flying object, it was the stupid kids pet bison, Apple or something. As it flew closer and got lower to the ground Sokka remembered what the kid had muttered right before he had disappeared, _I'll get her back_ , those had been his words. And while still extremely small, Sokka couldn't help but feel a small nugget of hope growing in his chest, maybe, just maybe, the kid had actually pulled through.

Finally the large sky bison made its final approach before softly landing on the ground in the middle of the village. Sokka approached it with caution, n matter how hopeful he was, his warriors instinct was ringing at him, reminding him to never let his guard down around an unknown entity.

Once he was within range he called out, his voice weak and strained, "K… Katara?" There was a rustling in the saddle, before a familiar voice shouted out, "SOKKA!" The warrior dropped his weapon as his sister leapt through the air towards him. He managed to catch her and draw her into a hug, crying out her name, "Katara…" He wrapped his arms tighter around his sister, he didn't even notice when the bison roared and took off back into the sky, returning in the direction it came.

"I thought… I thought I would never see you again." his voice was still strained as he tried to hold back the tears, but Katara, ever the sympathetic one, just slowly rubbed his back and whispered to him, "It's okay, I'm okay, Aang saved me, he made a deal with Azula and was able to send me home."

There were things in that statement that Sokka would question later, but for now he was just thankful to have his sister back home and safe.

Sokka looked off to the horizon, and the bison as it faded off into the distance, and whispered so that only he could hear, "Thank you, Aang."

 **Assuming I release this according to my planned schedule, this should come pretty soon after chapter 4, like maybe only 1 day after. My reason for this is simple. This is the end of the first episodes. We finished, the quote "pilot" episode os complete. I'm already working on the next episode, but it will likely take a bit longer than others, especially because I also want to get a chapter of my other ongoing series out, its been a couple months since that one was updated, rest assured though, the next chapter is already well under way. Till next time! =D**


	6. Chapter 6

~0~

"Aang are you absolutely certain you want to do this?" Azula asked the airbender for the umpteenth time, "I've told you over , and over again what happened. The Fire Nation used the boost to our abilities from Sozin's comet and simultaneously invaded the air temples. With the express goal of eliminating _you_ might I add, I don't see why you insist on visiting the southern air temple so vehemently."

She really didn't understand this boy. He willingly goes along with her in exchange for a girl he only just met, and now he was insisting on visiting the decrepit ruins of his old home, claiming he wanted to look for 'survivors'.

Aang was staring at her, waiting for her to actually give him attention before explaining himself. That was the bright side, he was learning. Azula smiled to herself, imagining the rumors, _Azula, The girl who tamed the avatar,_ she had to admit there was a ring to it. Finally giving Aang her full attention, Aang began to speak. "I know that's what _you_ were taught Azula, but you weren't alive 100 years ago, and the airbenders were nomads. At the very least in a statistical sense it doesn't make any sense that you really got them _all._ Besides, even if that is the case, then that makes it my duty to at the very least pay my respects. They were all my friends, and even in strained times, I considered them family."

Azula gave it a moment's consideration, then looked over at the young airbender, he was looking at her with a resolute expression. She sighed, then leaned over her map, looking for a large enough body of water to leave the ship while she went with the avatar on his stupid errand. After she found a suitable place, she marked it and turned to the helmsman. "Take the ship to these coordinates and drop anchor, we'll be making a stop there," she turned back towards Aang and crossed her arms, "There, happy now?" she asked rhetorically, but Aang still gave her a large smile that grew wider than she would have thought his face would allow, "Thank you Azula! You're the best!" He trapped Azula in a large hug and buried his face in her breastplate, causing a small blush to appear on the princesses pale skinned face. "Yes well… It's going to take some time to umm… get there so… training! Yes, that's it, training. I want you on the main deck in 5 minutes Avatar." Azula smirked as she saw the smile fade slightly from the young avatars face. Whenever Azula shifted to calling him avatar, nothing good ever followed, and she relished her ability to change his mood so easily, serves him right for making him all flustered.

Disengaging from their long hug Azula moved at a brisk pace out the door. "5 minutes!" she shouted back to him, "and don't be late!"

~0~

"No, No, No!" Azula shouted, she stomped over to the airbender and grabbed his body, forcing his body to align the way she taught him. "Firebending originated from the core, and the breath, to properly bend, you must move properly, it requires a solid foundation or else it will be weak, and die quickly." with his torso and arms positioned she stepped back and crossed her arms, "do it again."

Aang wanted to say something back, excuse himself, but experience had told him that would only lead to some kind of punishment. So he bit his tongue, and resumed his motions through the set, as he finished, Azula nodded her head, and Aang felt his spirits rise. "Better, now do it again." Feeling the small drop of hope for the end die, Aang's face fell ever so slightly as he resumed his stance. He started the motions, then shouted as he felt the sharp pain of something striking his back calves. His gaze was thrown to the sky and a pain erupted across his back as it collided with the rough wood of the deck.

Azula stood above him, a disapproving frown souring her pretty face. "You know, we will never finish this lesson if you refuse to properly learn the basics of what I'm teaching you. In any practical situation I won't be standing behind you to adjust your stance. I understand that it's hard, the basics of airbending require your motions to be light and noncommittal, its similar in that sense to waterbending, your motions have to be like fluid, but this is not airbending, nor is it waterbending. Earthbending is similar is action to earthbender, your foundation is solid, and your movements solid, it is what allows you to build power and deliver the strongest possible blows. Now, get up, and try again." with her small lecture over Azula let the frown fade to a simple stern expression, and moved back to her position on the side of the ship.

Aang stood slowly, then assumed the stance, taking care to make sure his feet rested firmly against the wood of the deck, then he moved along the routine, sliding his feet in strong confident bursts, much like previous attempts, but for some reason, this felt different, it was almost like there was some kind of heat sitting in his chest, and slowly crawling along his arms. As he finished the set, thrusting a closed fist forwards, he almost felt like jumping for joy as a large burst of flames surged forwards and tore through the morning air.

To his side there was the sound of clapping, "Very good avatar," the princess said, "You have finally grasped the basic stance of firebending, now, do it again."

Aang didn't complain as he took the stance again, he was just happy to finally see progress.

~0~

She couldn't exactly tell how long she had been watching the young boy go through the firebending set, but she was confident he was getting better, with every repeat he was more confident and his motions became more and more firm. He wasn't perfect, yet, but he would get there in time. If she was lucky he might even be able to grasp it before the week was out.

Azula was roused from her thoughts as the door to the bridge was opened and one of the officers peered his way out, finding her eyes and meeting them. She took the cue and made her way over, to him. Aang noticed her movement and paused to look over at her, she turned her head his way, "Don't pay attention to me, keep running the set, I'll tell you when to stop." HE gave her a small nod, then resumed his practice.

As she reached the officer he bowed his head to her. "My apologies for the interruption Princess, but we are approaching our destination, the captain told me to alert you."

Azula nodded at the captain, you have my thanks for the notice soldier, tell him to hold his position once we get there, the avatar and I will depart for the temple shortly," the man gave her a terse nod, "Right away," he said, then he was gone.

Turning on her heels Azula put her focus on Aang right as he finished his final set. "That's enough Aang," she called in a somewhat gentle tone. "We're almost there."

Aang stopped his set, and turned to her, "Really?!" he shouted in and excited manner, "Alright!" then he paused, placing his hand chin, "Wait… I just realized, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Maybe we really shouldn't go."

Azula had to stifle a laugh at the ridiculous nature of his comment. "Let's just focus on getting your beast ready for departure shall we?" The avatar gave her a quick smile, then turned and approached the large bison. With his back turned to her, Azula's face grew just ever so slightly concerned, if any of the tales she had been told were true, she was worried as to how Aang would react, she just hoped that whatever happened, she would be able to deal with it.

 **Happy New Year! Figured I'd celebrate by getting a chapter out, even though it may be a bit short. Besides getting this one done filled my head with some ideas for what to do with the next one, I'm getting excited. =D Anyway yeah, that's it, thanks to everyone who is reading and reviewing, please look forward to future updates.**


	7. Chapter 7

Aang always loved flying on Appa, there was a freedom to it he always associated with flight, coupled with the enjoyment from being able to relax and talk with company. Appa knew where he was going so he was able to turn his focus from the large sky bison and steering him in the right direction, to instead put his energy to observing his silent passenger.

With that thought process in mind Aang swiveled on his rear end, turning to face the princess of the fire nation. She sat in the back of the saddle, leaning back against its raised ridge. Her arm was draped over said ridge, and it twirled soft circles in the sky bisons fluffy fur as she stared off into the distance. She was very clearly lost in thought, thus Aang thought better of disturbing her immediately. Instead he decided to placate his own boredom by observing his passenger in greater detail. The Princess of the Fire Nation was a picture of graceful beauty, she took great steps to insure that no matter what she did, she always at the very least appeared to do it perfectly. Even now, with a prisoner on a trip to supposedly "abandoned" temple, her makeup was done and her clothing was prim and proper, not a strap of the black and gold armor out of place or undone, nor an shred of visible clothing wrinkled. Her immaculately manicured nails were clean, not a spec of dirt, and even in her wistful thoughts, she sat in a way that while tantalizing could in no way be considered shameful.

Done wandering his eyes over her body, Aang slowly dragged the reluctant organs back upwards, focusing his gaze on the girls face, this he began to study intensely. Her hair was straight and glossy, pulled upwards into a topknot secured by a crimson ornament molded to appear like fire in her hair. Everything was secure in place, except for her bangs, which hung down along her cheeks and accentuated the sharp, beautiful angles of her face. Moving up from her chin he gazed at her lips, slightly puckered and in a slight frown, then her nose small and actually considerably adorable, though it wasn't really a term that he would normally use to describe the princess, he felt it described her nose very well. From her nose he swept his eyes across and examined the skin, pale, and without flaw, not an acne scar or blemish in sight. He had to silently wonder to himself where she found the time for proper skincare while managing an entire crew of firebenders, but that was not something he would easily understand anytime soon, so he put that thought aside, something to be revisited later.

Finally, Aang brought his gaze upwards to her eyes, large and beautiful, with vibrant amber colors and mixed together and urged him to gaze even deeper. There was a spark hidden behind the eyes, a spark that represented something, what he couldn't even begin to guess, but that would not stop him from trying. Perhaps it was her yearning for adventure, or a love for her own nation. Maybe it was the mischievous and devious part of her, the one that revealed in manipulating things in her favor, and that shuddered in pure glee when a well thought out plan went off without a hitch.

Aang had not spent that much time aboard the fire navy vessel, but he had taken to analyzing the princess, she was a mystery to him, not in nature, the monks had instilled in him many principles. One that they considered very important was an understanding of the human mind. Aang understood the Princess's mindset to the best that he could without actually knowing her or her history. At the very least he had a baseline understanding that he used when interacting with her. The part that was a mystery to him however, was the fact that he could not get deeper than the surface of who she was. Azula was a private person, she kept everything that was not relevant to whomever she was interacting with locked away. Generally fine, from what little he understood of politics, keeping secrets was extremely important. But aboard this vessel, he had to wonder how healthy that was.

Azula made sure that she always appeared strong, confident, and authoritative, she had to in order to keep the crew in mind. She was a young girl, that had somehow managed to both take and retain control over this vessel, with blessing from her uncle, the fire lord. But there was in a detail in there that Aang focused on. Young Girl. No matter how tough she tried to appear, that was what she was, and even with his outdated knowledge, he knew that adolescence was tough, hell, he was dealing with it too. There were going to be things that bothered her, shook her foundations and caused her great amounts of stress. It was something he personally decided to make a goal. Before they got to the fire nation, he would try his damndest to make his way through her walls, and get to know whoever it was behind them, good or bad, it was in his nature. His personal philosophy. Make friends when you can, acquaintances when you can't, and enemies when you have absolutely no other choice.

~0~

The avatar was being roused from his thoughts. "Glad you could rejoin me avatar, did you enjoy being lost in my beauty?" She phrased the question in a playful manner, hiding the how uncomfortable his gaze had made her. She found it odd. She was used to receiving lecherous gazes from officials and the like, that was to be expected, Azula knew how she looked, an image of beauty wrapped in the delicate features of her mother with the grace and authority of both military and royal training. But Aang's gaze was not something she was used to, there was less to do with a perverse desire in his gaze, though that still existed sure, he would have to be an invalid to not have that at least a little. Instead the avatars gaze held something closer to… curiosity, he was analyzing her, and she wasn't sure how to react to that, she did the analysis, not the other way around.

Aang's eyes grew a bit wide before he shook in head at ridiculous speed, to the point where she could almost see afterimages of his own head movement. "No, No! That's not… well maybe a little… but I was just." The young avatar was cut of from his rambling justification by the the roar of the large sky bison that they were riding on.

Aang whipped his head over his shoulder and stared off for a second before returning his eyes to Azula. There was a ridiculous smile on his face as he stared at her for a moment more, then he broke the silence. "In case you have never been, allow me to be the first airbender in a hundred years to welcome a guest, to the southern air temple." He threw his arms wide around him and the clouds parted in an instant. Revealing to her a sight that stole the breath from her lungs.

All the artist depictions in the empire could not have prepared Azula for what she saw in that moment. The temple was a oddity in the natural beauty of the mountain range, yet it somehow at the same time blended in so perfectly, its massive spires reached high into the sky and the abundance of windows made the structure seem to glow in the brilliant array of colors that painted the sky in the light of the setting sun. all over the ground snow sparkled brilliantly.

It was nothing short of breathtaking. Azula held her gaze on the structure, marveling in the architecture, until it loomed over her and enveloped both her and the Avatar in the shadows.

~0~

Aang could barely even wait for Appa to land before he was off running into to the ruins. HE called out to old friends he knew wouldn't respond, but some part of him still hoped that there would be some sign of life, of his culture left. But as the only response he got was silence, Aang felt his mood drop, and his shoulders slumped, if only a little. Behind him the slow steps of Azula finally caught up and he heard her clearing her throat to speak, "I don't really want to say that I told you it would be like this, bit I will, because I did." Aang heard her words, and felt them sink into his skin, his shoulders slumped a bit further, and he felt a gentle hand rest upon them. He looked over and Azula was smiling at him, her eyes showing an extremely small amount of worry. He appreciated the gesture, and smiled weakly at her.

"The Southern Air Temple used to be so full of life," He whispered to her, "There was always something happening, and almost all of it was something unique to us, the airbenders, it's just, so hard to believe that all of that culture, all of our knowledge, is just, gone." He felt a squeeze from Azula's hand, and she spoke again, "Yes, I suppose your culture is mostly gone now, but I would not say it to be gone completely."

Aang looked at her, his brow raised in his confusion, there was a slight smile on her face as she continued her speech. "100 years ago, my people razed these temples, in search of you, we destroyed the culture, and it was only many years later that members of my nation began to regret what had happened." She paused mid-speech and tossed something over to Aang, he caught it and looked hard at it. It was a helmet, similar to the ones Azula's soldiers back on the boat wore, but it seemed somehow outdated.

"You wanted proof that we invaded you, there it is, an old Fire Nation Army helmet, I assure you the rest of the armor is off buried in the snow, along with the bones of the poor sod who wore it. Your people lost the battle avatar, My people won the war. But if you want to revive your culture, then I believe that to be possible. After all, you remember, don't you?"

His hands trembled as he held the helmet, but Azula's comment did not fall on deaf ears. His shaking stopped and he looked over at the princess. He smiled ever so softly, and whispered to the princess, "Thank's Azula, and thank you for showing me this," he held the helmet in one hand before tossing it back into the snow.

Azula laughed, "Make no mistake avatar. I wasn't showing you that out of kindness or anything else, it was merely damage control, and a bit of me gloating." He heard her words, but did not really believe the, somewhere inside the facade, Aang knew Azula cared. "Now then, It's getting dark, and the temple is going nowhere. We shall rest for tonight, and maybe tomorrow I shall have you give me a tour, agreed?"

Aang smile was now a bit wider as he looked at Azula.

"Alright."

 **Honestly, I am mid writing this part, but something told me this would be an excellent cut off point for one chapter. So I did. Follow your gut. I'm trying to make Azula resemble her crueler behavior patterns, but keep her kind of likable, is it working? I have no Idea.**


	8. Chapter 8

~0~

Azula wiped the sweat from her brow, the day had started exactly as she had expected. She rose with the sun and had gone through her morning routine, and by the time the young avatar had awoken she was prim, proper, and ready to go about whatever it would be that he wanted to accomplish in this place.

When he had risen Aang quickly latched onto her proposal for a tour of the temple, and they had set off after a light breakfast of jerky and melted snow. Though Azula had given herself a moment to enjoy the sweet taste of the berry juice she had stowed aboard the large bison's saddle. The avatar may have been okay with peasant rations, but she was a princess of the fire nation, she would not submit to grossly unpleasant situations if she did not have to.

While she could tell the Aang had started his day bright, she could tell his mood worsened ever so slightly with every room they entered to find nothing but bones and walls worn away by the presence of time. By the time they had reached the sports field, there had been a definitive drop in Aang's mood, his shoulders were slumped and his head had dipped his gaze closer to the ground than to the sky.

That did not sit well with Azula, she needed the Avatar to be in fine working order, or he would be no fun to have around. Ultimately that was the goal, his presence entertained her, and she would not have her favorite toy breaking. So she had offered something simple, and told Aang she would play the boy's admittedly rather interesting game.

Thus she found herself in her current predicament. She was thankful that the makeup she had spent so much time applying was resistant to the wear of her own sweat, but it was still tiring. This was most certainly a game in the airbender's favor. Her acrobatic ability gave her some of the mobility, but she was unable to bend freely do to the wooden nature of the platforms that she now balanced on.

The ball soared past and through the circle and a whoop of victory sounded from the other end of the field. "Alright!" Aang shouted, "That makes the score Aang 7 - Azula 3!"

She wanted to roll her eyes and call the game stupid, but she found herself oddly exhilarated. It also didn't help that she was losing, Azula refused to accept a loss, no matter where it came from, thus she gritted her teeth and lept from the platform in order to retrieve the ball.

"I'll tell you what Azula, this next game will be for the entire pot, next goal wins the game." She did not appreciate the smugness in his voice, her brow furrowed, but she had to keep up the presence that she was unaffected by his superiority. In line with that she bit back a response along the lines of, 'I've never played this before,' that was a cowards way out. She wasn't a coward.

"Alright Aang, sure, don't worry, I'll only hold my unprecedented victory over you for a few days at most."

Aang laughed, and Azula held back a smile. She was mad at him, angry people did not smile at their enemy until they had achieved absolute victory.

With the ball back in hand she made her way back the field and quickly jumped back onto the large wooden pillars. Standing with her back straight directly in front of her own goal, Azula took a moment to consider her plan of attack. The game itself was in the boy's favor. While he was able to use his bending for mobility, her own was limited to putting additional power behind launching the ball, any mobility would burn the field to the ground, so once the ball was in fully in motion, that was when she was most likely to fail. The ball itself was made of a dense wood and was slightly hollow, it had landed in the snow a few time as well, so it was a bit waterlogged, it would not catch fire easily.

A dark smile graced her lips, but she hid that as quickly as she did the ones brought on by Aang's goofy and boyish actions. Now she had a plan.

With the ball spinning on one finger Azula tossed the ball high into the air then immediately turned her focus to Aang and fired several blasts of fire at him. He quickly noted the azure balls of heat approaching and reacted appropriately, launching himself high into the air in order to avoid the attack. Now she let the smile display itself as Azula leapt into the air with a slight spin, her right leg held perpendicular to her body as she built speed into the spin before she finally unleashed her pent up energy into striking the ball, adding a blast of fire to accelerate its motion to the goal.

It rocketed through unopposed as Aang slowly floated back towards the earth. Smashing into the ground behind the goal with an audible crack as steam began to rise into the air.

Aang looked at Azula incredulously, but she merely shrugged as she hopped downward off the pillars back to the ground. "By your rules," she said, her need to gloat was soaking into every word she spoke. "I do believe that this makes me the victor, good game, avatar. Better luck next time."

Having gained the last word Azula turned on her heal and swiftly walked away, not even bothering to look backwards at the young boy whom she was now leaving in the dust.

Azula ha to admit, she had rather liked that game, perhaps when they returned to the fire nation she would have a metal version created so that she could go all out. Yes, she imagined that really would be quite enjoyable.

~0~

Once he was done moping due to his unexpected loss, Aang hurried in search of the princess. He found her rather quickly. She was stood in a courtyard, staring at a statue of a monk with an inquisitive stair, "Who is this man?" she asked Aang.

He took a moment to look at the statue, and a soft smile spread across his face as he was mentally greeted by many warm memories. "That's monk gyatso, the most powerful airbender alive during my time," Aang felt Azula's gaze hit him, and he looked over at him, "Though you may have been born and mostly raised when this man was alive, Avatar," she gestured to the statue as she spoke, "I can assure you that _your_ time is in the here and now, after all, if your time was with this man, I most certainly would not have gained such an interesting toy."

Aang chuckled softly, but couldn't help but allow some of his inner sadness to appear in his next words, "I wonder about that." Aang shifted his gaze away from Azula back to the statue of his mentor, and simply allowed the memories to flow, they washed over him, and Aang released a breath as they finished. One memory hung in his mind, from a point in time closer to his becoming trapped in the iceberg.

Without warning he turned on his heel and began to march further into the temple.

"Where are we going now?"

Aang turned his head, he hadn't really thought that Azula to follow him, but he supposed this was to be expected, no matter how friendly they acted, he was still technically her prisoner, and on this specific trip, she was serving as both his jailor and warden.

He answered simply, replying with the truth, but elaborating on nothing. "There's someone here who I'm finally ready to meet."

~0~

Some level of her mind had expected something greater than this, that the avatar would lead her through a hidden door to a group of airbenders hiding within the walls of their own temples.

This however… "It's a door." Azula stated the fact flatly. "Admittedly a nice door, excellent craftsmanship with the wood, but still, just a door." Aang looked offended as he turned towards her. "This isn't just some door Azula." he fumed, "This is a door that can only be opened by a master airbender. Monk Gyatso once told me that there was someone I was supposed to meet behind it when I was finally ready."

"So it's a really, really fancy door, with a skeleton behind it?" Azula's wit was as dry as ever, and this time rather than anger, it was met by the avatar with a look of confusion. She rolled her eyes as she elaborated. "You have been frozen for a hundred years, this we have agreed upon, yes?" Aang nodded slowly as Azula continued on, "Well your precious Gyatso told you about someone back there 100 years ago as well. If whoever it was didn't flee and wasn't killed by my people like the rest, then he would have starved to death a long time ago."

Aang's face fell, Azula should have been elated at defeating his optimism, but there was an odd pang in her chest at the sight of his defeated posture, when Aang responded to her reasoning his voice was soft, but there was resolution in his tone, "Even still, I have to open the door, if nothing else then to pay my respects."

He turned slowly, and Azula watched with well hidden interest as he took a deep breath, then exhaled with force as he pushed wind through the pipes, creating a low, flute like hum. One by one she watched the tiles inlaid within the wood of the door flip over, she guessed signifying the locks being undone.

As the last tile flipped over, Azula prepared herself for either the stench of rotted flesh, or the sight of worn away bones, but she was instead met with… "Statues." Her tone was flat and her disappointment evident.

At the very least however, she took solace in the fact that she would not be alone in her confusion. Aang too wore a baffled expression as he wandered forwards into the room, "I… I don't understand. What was the point?" he asked the question, but she didn't answer, she knew the question was not meant for her, instead she stepped forwards into the room and examined the area.

The statues numbered in the dozens, spiraling around the floor and leading upwards to the ceiling. Stepping to the closest statue, Azula was shocked when she recognized the shape of traditional fire nation robes. Looking closer, "who are you?" she asked no one, glaring at the statue. Beside her a voice spoke up, "That's Avatar Roku, the avatar before me."

Azula turned to Aang, "and how do you know that, might I ask?" for the umpteenth time today, that accursed confusion once again seeped its way across Aang's face, "I… don't know how, I just know." It was not the answer she was looking for, "Great," she grunted out.

Moving to another statue in the line she asked the question again, this time pointing it directly at the young avatar, "who's this then?" His brows scrunched together for a moment, then hot upwards as a smile hit his face, "Avatar Kyoshi, she was the previous Earth Nation Avatar."

Though she didn't have much knowledge of avatars to work off of, Azula had a sneaking suspicion she just had to voice. "Well, avatar, I do believe that we are looking at gallery of your past lives."

Before Aang could respond they were interrupted by the sound of something hitting the floor behind them. Turning on their heels Azula peered at the door.

There, sitting in the light of the open doorway… was nothing more than a flying rodent. "Well, now I feel silly for jumping at shadows." she brushed off the minor adrenaline that had entered her veins like it was nothing and attempted to resume her conversation with Aang. "Anyway Aang, I…" She was not able to continue any further as she was interrupted by the sound an extremely energetic shout into the heavens.

"LEMUR!"

Then, with a large burst of wind, the avatar was gone.

 **And another chapter released. next one will wrap up episode two, or at the very least get extremely close. at the very least we'll be getting through the dramatic bits, Azula's catching the feels, but she doesn't know that yet. Don't know when the next part will be up, but I can promise it'll be before the end of February**


	9. Chapter 9

~0~

She wouldn't say she was adversely opposed to physical activity. But she would say that she preferred not to indulge in it when it was unnecessary. At this moment, she viewed chasing after the Avatar at full sprint to be exactly that, bet she couldn't help herself as she sprinted through the abandoned corridors after the excitable, foolish, child.

In the distance she could hear him calling out after the animal, as if the creature was able to understand him, and she rolled her eyes. Azula may have been willing to accept that the Avatar's bison was able to understand him, that was often the way the avatar and its chosen animal companion worked, or so the records said at least.

She sighed mentally, her lack of absolute knowledge over the topic that was the avatar was beginning to annoy her. She did not like being annoyed.

After only a few moments of further running Azula bolted out into the open courtyard, and looked around for him.

Unfortunately for her, the only sign of an airbender present was the larger than life statue of the old monk Aang seemed to admire, Gyatso had been his name.

Azula crouched down and inspected the ground beneath her, there was an extremely slight indentation on the snow, that Azula could make out to be footprints, he was as light on his feet as ever, but she at least had something to follow now.

Her head down and eyes following the faint markings, Azula followed behind the Avatar once again.

~0~

"Come on buddy, where'd you go? I promise I won't hurt you, I only want to play," Aang was speaking at no one, for the moment. He could not believe that he had lost sight of the lemur, especially after chasing the small furry mammal all over the temple.

He refused to give up, however, and instead took long, slow steps, one foot after the next. Trying to find some hint of the animals location.

There was a motion in the corner of his eye, and as quickly as he could Aang whipped his head over in that direction, only to see the faded scraps of cloth covering a door falling into place.

The corners of Aang's mouth perked up, and he approached the doorway, calling out to the lemur as he entered.

"Did you come in here buddy? Really I promise I…"

The words choked in his mouth at the sight of what was in front of him. Bile rose in his throat, burning it and melting away all his words and any thoughts of playing with the mammal. His mind raced one hundred thoughts a minute, and his mouth opened in a silent cry as tears began to form, falling one by one from his face to the snowy ground below him.

When his words finally found him, there was only one thing that he could think to say, his voice was soft, and it took all of his efforts to fully break down into a bawling mess as he spoke only one thing.

"Gyatso."

He felt his knees hit the floor roughly and he began to weep for his fallen mentor.

~0~

His footprints lead inside if a wrecked shell of a building, but there were no signs of exit. If Aang was anywhere at all, it was inside. Azula smirked, and strided confidently through the door, talking as she so, unknowingly mirroring the actions of the young boy within.

"Alright Aang, the chase was fun and all, but please remember you are still technically… Oh my." she cut her sentence off at the sight of the avatar kneeling before the skeletal remains of a monk, "Well, now we know for certain that my people at least got one of yours. I would gloat, but that seems in poor taste, even for me. Still though, I did warn you after all."

Aang didn't respond to her at all, and Azula finally began to worry. She inspected the skeleton closer, there was something familiar about it, but she couldn't quite place it, the bones had been bleached white by the sun, and the clothes torn up, either from years of suffering the weather or through combating fire nation soldiers whose remains lay scattered around him. On his neck was a large wooden bead necklace, it seemed oddly familiar, yet nondescript, she knew she had seen it before, but she could not for the life of herself remember where.

Then it hit her, the necklace obviously belonged to the airbender, and was unique to him, as she had not seen any other indication that other monks wore the decoration other than him. And aside from Aang, she had only seen a full representation of one other airbender.

"Ah, so it's your old mentor than." She stated the words bluntly, but she noted that Aang's ears twitched in response to them, "Got your attention now do I? Aang, I do believe we have experienced everything that we are going to here, I think it is about time for us to leave."

Aang did not move. He remained motionless in that one spot, sitting before the corpse of his teacher. Azula did not have time for games.

"Aang, I said let's go!" she grunted the final line in anger and moved to forcibly grab Aang's collar and drag him out.

She never got the chance however, as before she could even come into contact with a single strand of fabric, the tattoos that adorned his skin took up an unearthly glow, and she found herself flung backwards into the far wall. Crashing with a painful thud.

Azula looked on in a mixture of awe and genuine terror, at the sight of Aang, the fun loving child who only less than an hour before had been happily chasing a lemur around in a light hearted game of animal based tag. Rose from the ground in a vicious torrent of wind, a look if grief laden anger engraved on his features. And her fear only grew wider as his furious gaze, turned to look upon her.

~0~

Far away from the Avatar and the Princess, at the fire nation temple that stood in dedication to the avatar. The eyes of avatar Roku began to glow a strong a brilliant light, filling the room it occupied and spilling out into the hallway beyond.

Within that hallway a lone monk stood in shock, staring into the light as hard as he could for only a few moments before quickly turning back towards the hallway and shouting for someone, anyone to come over.

As another monk arrived, complaining about being awoken in the middle of the night, he too fell silent when he noticed the light.

Taking the newcomers sudden silence as confirmation he was not going insane, the first monk turned to his colleague and stated two, simple sentences. "Send word to the Fire Lord, The Avatar, is alive."

~0~

"You know Aang, I can only dodge for so long! Is it possible for us to be reasonable?" Azula was shouting over the sounds of the winds rushing past her as she was assaulted with a combination of wind, earth, and water. Unsurprisingly at this point the only answer that came was another volley of rocks to destroy her cover once again.

Out of options, Azula had no choice but to use the last cover she had available. With a deep breath, Azula shifted from the crumbling rocks that had been been a wall only moments before and hid behind the one thing left undamaged in the area. The skeleton of Monk Gyatso itself.

Aang once again turned to her, rage and fury evident in his eyes, but he hesitated to attack her now, if she had to guess unwilling to attack the skeleton of what he had described to her as a proper father figure, or at least she assumed so, her father was… less than perfect, when it came to actually being a parent.

Still though his hesitation brought her an opportunity that she likely would not receive again if she did not take it now.

Another deep breath, what she was about to do was stupid, but she was out of options.

Azula stepped out from behind the skeleton, and approached the avatar slowly, and spoke softly to him. This was a last resort, but he was driven almost purely on emotion, so she would answer in kind, and meet his anger with reason, and as close to affection as she could get.

"Aang," her voice was filled with trepidation, and her legs were shaking with fear, but still she stepped forwards, "I know that this is a bad situation, and that you view it as _my_ fault, I told you as much. But everything that I have observed about you over this short period of time we have known each other makes me think, that if you get this revenge you want now, you will regret it later."

Azula's voice grew even softer now, and her voice carried the smallest hint of both nostalgia and sorrow, "Killing is… To kill, is a terrible act, and even the most stalwart of soldiers would be haunted by the act if they are not fully and completely ready to accept the guilt of that crime. I can not see you to be ready to commit murder Aang, not even now, as you are in this state. You are mad angry over the loss of your mentor, and probably your people. I can't pretend to completely sympathize with you Aang, I didn't know these people, these are just props from a play I did not see in my mind. But you Aang. you can carry on their memory. You are 112 years old. You know who this man is," Azula gestured to the skeleton behind her, and noted with satisfaction, that Aang seemed to be calming down, his expression was softer, and the glow of his tattoos and eyes seemed less intense than mere moments ago.

Azula grabbed the wood necklace from around Gyatso's neck, and stepped forwards, towards Aang, with his head nodded forwards, she slipped the necklace around his neck, "I am not the best with words like these, but my uncle is quite fond of them. I believe in a situation like this, he would tell you that if you truly want to honor someone that you are unable to help, make sure that their memory in known. You have the capacity to remember your people Aang, and for what it is worth, I am willing to help you."

Aang's tattoos had returned to their dull blue state, and Azula noted this happily before catching the young boy in her arms. "Drained yourself out have you? Well, I guess that's fine this time."

Thus, holding the young avatar in her grasp, Azula fell back into the snow, and simply watched as the last lights of the evening sun set on the horizon.

 **Just as promised that was the end of the "episode" next chapter, just like last time, will be a small wrap up chapter before I move on to the next episode. Don't know when I will have that readied up, as I have to shift my gears for a bit to finish up a research essay. Till next time. =D**


	10. Chapter 10

~0~

Metal ceilings once again. So strange, and yet already they were becoming so frighteningly familiar to him.

Aang had to wonder, at what point would he lose the version of himself who had lived in the past, would he ever? Aang was a boy out of time, everything was so unfamiliar, but he couldn't do anything about it. The world had changed and he had lost almost everything he held dear to him.

Seeing Gyatso's skeleton lying abandoned in the snow had been harrowing to him, but had also opened Aang's eyes to the truth. He was the last of his people, there were no more airbenders in the world, or at the very least none who could come forward.

In one single moment Aang had lost the last sliver of hope that this was all one bad dream, and that he would soon wake up to the fresh morning air of the temple once again, and go play pai-sho with gyatso, then train with the other monks. There was no hope for that now, this was his world, and he and Appa were the last of their kind. The last sky bison, and the last airbender.

Still though, he though back on Azula's words to him, and his melancholy lifted ever so slightly, he know she wasn't particularly caring towards him, but the words had given him some hope, and a newfound feeling that he had not expected.

Aang already knew he was attracted to Azula, but before today, it had been in a purely physical sense, after all, he would have to have been as dense as a lead brick not to notice how pretty she was. But after today, there was a newfound fluttering at thoughts of her, pone that he could not be certain was not just the fluttering effects of having her bring him out of the avatar state. At least for the time being, the young avatar would have to be careful in his interaction with the Princess of the Fire Nation.

~0~

Azula tossed and turned beneath her covers, but she simply could not find her comfort. Her thoughts were plagued, by her own words, and by the soft sensation of Aang's body leaning against hers that she could still sense if only ever so slightly.

She hated it. It was not like her to do this, if she was to be plagued by anything it should have been the almighty power he had shown when his tattoos had glowed, not the struggles of a boy who slept not more than a dozen yards below her.

What were these sensations? She had to find a solution, and quickly, before they overtook her completely.

 **There we go, episode two is completely done, and next chapter up will be episode three, not exactly sure when that will be, but hopefully soon. The characters are developing. I think. if it develops the wa I think it will, at the very least feeling will end up fully realized by the end of the Kyoshi warriors ark, again though, not sure, haven't written that and sometime these things just end up flowing entirely different from how I originally thought they would. Until next time my dudes.**


	11. Chapter 11

She had been falling behind on her training, too much time spent with the avatar and not enough refining her own craft. It was unacceptable. Thus for today Aang's "task" had been put on hold.

He sat now off to the side watching her as she moved through her motions. She forced her thoughts away from him in this moment though, it was crucial that she did so. Fluidity was necessary here as she moved her arms through the motion, keeping her stance solid. First nothing, then with a small flash the first sparks came into view, it was brilliant, and the raw power of it caused her to shiver, and goosebumps rose on her skin.

As the energy she commanded rose to its peak, she made her move to unleash it, sliding her feet as she moved her torso, right as she fired the image of it returned to her mind, flashing alongside the lighting was the image of Aang's face, his eyes glowing with the same intensity as the most powerful firebending technique. And her eyes grew wider.

As quickly as it had appeared the lighting dissipated into the sky, breaking the clouds above. Almost perfect, but not quite there, her feet were now slightly out of stance, and a lone hair had fallen loose from her carefully managed topknot.

She huffed in anger, but before she could return to her original stance and begin again she found herself distracted by the sound of clapping.

Aang, from his position watching her, slammed his palms together, "that was incredible Azula! When do I get to learn how to do that?" His gaze was full of wonder, and some part of Azula felt bad as she replied, another issue, she usually took an amount of reverence in crushing people's hopes, if only just a little. She was certain there was something wrong with her at this point, she just could not pin it down.

"Sorry to say Aang, but you may not be able to learn to do that particular move at all. The ability to bend lighting is different to having a simple aptitude for firebending, it is as if there is a barrier hidden in a person's spirit, from what I have understood even the Avatar is not above that notion, there have been some in the past who have found that they are simply unable to use lighting, no matter how well they understand the concepts and techniques."

Azula watched as Aang's face fell a little, but he quickly regained his usual composure, this brought small smile to her face, though she moved quickly to hide it.

Aang spoke optimistically, "only some though, who knows, maybe I can, we won't know until we try." his words were still so bright, it took a considerable amount of effort from Azula to keep her expression stoic as she moved on.

"In any case it will be some time before you are even close to being ready to learn the technique for lightning, I've been training since I was only a child, and even I was only recently taught it."

This time the avatar merely shrugged it away, "something to look forward to then, but let's move away from this this topic, We are nearing the next place I want to go!" Azula now allowed a grin to break through her mask, "oh we are now, and where might that be? Some other abandoned ruins perhaps?" she kept her tone light, hiding her apprehension to visiting yet another possible trigger of Aang's avatar state.

To her relief Aang answered her with a laugh, "No, not this time. We're nearing Kyoshi Island, the elephant koi should be passing by there this time of year. I want to ride them." His grin stretched over half his face. Azula laughed loudly before she replied, alright then, I am nothing if not honest. A promise is a promise, come on, we'll go inform the captain."

Motioning to him with a flick of her wrist, Azula began the walk back into the ship.

~0~

Kyoshi Island was named after Avatar Kyoshi, who was the previous avatar of the Earth Nation. Aang didn't know the full history of the island, but what he did know was that when the giant elephant koi passed through the area, it was a nothing less than a sin to simply pass by without riding the majestic creatures.

Thus Aang sat on the bow of the ship and embraced the sensation of the wind rushing over his face as he watched the distant shape of the island growing larger in the distance. He almost wished he knew waterbending so that he could push the vessel to move even faster through the waves.

The thoughts of bending and pushing the waves led Aang's thoughts to Katara. He wondered how the young girl was doing now back with her brother at the south pole.

Sometimes, late into the night when everyone else lay asleep, Aang found himself thinking about that tribe. He wondered what his life would have been like had he found an alternative way to get her back from Azula. Perhaps he would have been forced to set off on his own, but a larger part of him liked to imagine that the pair of siblings and him would have gone on a grand adventure, flying across the world on Appa.

He dreamed sometimes of that alternative reality, and oftentimes he would almost believe they were the true reality. But there was always one feature of his dreams which grounded him, letting him know that no matter what he dreamt his reality was different. That detail existed in the fourth member of his phantom gathering. A dark haired girl with a sinister expressing, always hidden in the shadow of the sun which was somehow always positioned behind her.

He did not understand the fourth member, she was an enigma, in his dreams he always felt so sure she was linked to someone he truly knew, but by the time he would awaken any distinct memory of her would have grown fuzzy. He wanted to know who she was, because at times he felt a tingle along his spine whenever the thought of her crossed his mind, one similar to the tingle he felt when conversing with Azula, yet also somehow different, this one much more foreboding than the one he received when talking with the Princess.

A voice calling him pulled Aang out of his thoughts once again. Aang had to quickly turn on his heel to meet the source. Azula stood behind him, he hands pressed against her hips as she stared him down.

"It's about time you realized I was here," her voice was flat, and she stared at Aang with a mildly displeased expression. Aang simply smiled at her sheepishly and offered a weak apology before she continued.

"Come on," she finally ordered after a brief pause, gesturing for him to follow, "Get your giant fluff ball of a pet flight ready, we're almost at the island."

~0~

The flight over to Kyoshi Island had been much shorter than the one to the temple. And Azula was quite grateful for that as the Avatar's bison once again touched down on solid land. Wasting no time she hopped from the saddle to the ground below, just barely stopping herself from kissing the ground as she did so.

Azula was not built for flight, or at least, not on Appa.

"Alright, we're here. Where are your stu…" Azula's thoughts trailed off in her throat as she turned to face Aang, unprepared for the sight before her.

Too excited for his own good she supposed, Aang had already stripped down to his loincloth. "What?" was the only question he asked her.

To her own credit, Azula maintained her composure after the initial shock. Her eyes traveled across the image of Aang's body. He was much more fit than she had expected the 12 year old boy to be. Admittedly there was well defined abdominal muscles, but his arms and legs had lean, yet strong muscles hidden just below the skin. She gave him a sound of approval before commenting.

"Admittedly I thought you would be in worse shape."

Azula smiled as Aang turned a light shade of pink, then clasped his hands together in front of him. "I, uh, well… I'm going to go swim!"

She laughed loudly as Aang dashed his way past her and towards the open sea. Only recovering from her small fit of hysteria as Aang became small enough in the distance for her to fit in the area within her connected thumb and index finger.

Still laughing slightly, she settled in on the beach to watch him, having no interest in frolicking in the water herself.

~0~

The trick to riding a giant Koi was in the mounting. Once you were on it was simply a matter of maintaining your grip on the creatures large dorsal fin as the creature emerged and submerged beneath the dark blue waters of the ocean floor.

Aang laughed loudly as the Koi made its rounds, it circled back and forth, almost as though it knew exactly what was happening and it was doing his best in order to provide the best experience for its young rider.

Flashing a smile to the shoreline Aang grinned at Azula, who he could just make out sitting off looking at him on the distant beach.

Deciding to show off wasn't his brightest move, but he felt it couldn't really hurt, after all in calm waters like these he hadn't the slightest hint of a worry.

Tightening his grip on the large dorsal Aang began to pull and steer the fish, making large jumps flips and a wide array of other moves. He was actually quite confident that his display was quite good. He was certain Azula was impressed.

However when he looked back to the shoreline He could only see the small figure of the Princess retreating into the woods near the beach.

Aang's smile fell. His interest in the joy of riding back and forth diminished. As the Koi dove once again beneath the blue waves of the sea, Aang stood still as stone, gazing sadly towards the now empty coastline until his entire vision sank into a watery existence.

In the back of his mind, Aang could hear the faintest of voices speaking out in outrage,

 _This Sucks._

~0~

While personally Azula did not care much for the lumbering behemoth Aang called a pet, Azula knew the young boy did, and she did not want him to get emotionally distressed over something bad happening to the large creature. Thus when she saw the large bison begin to try and chow down on some poisonous berries, she had leapt into action to stop him.

Thus she now walked back to her original sitting position, trying her hardest to fling the Bison saliva from her arms, though she feared the smell of it would be embedded into her armor for weeks to come.

Looking out to the horizon she could see the Koi jumping, but there were no tricks or fancy jumps being made. Idly she wondered if Aang had grown bored and returned to shore without her notice. Throwing her palm to her brow in order to shade her gaze from the light of the sun, Azula stared harder at the fish.

Finally she noticed the young boy, he stood still on the backs of one of the fish. She threw a wave in his direction, and she noted how his figure returned to life as she did so, once again becoming extremely animated.

The fish he rode on once again resumed the wild showboating prompted into action by the young boy. Azula could not help but laugh, clearly he had been a little disappointed when she had departed in order to deal with Appa. It was quite silly really, but she felt a twinge of happiness at the thought of it.

That's when she noticed it. The rest of the Koi fish had disappeared. Only moments before the waves had been alive with several of the creatures, but now only Aang's koi rose out of the murky waters, which with further observation she quickly noted were now a few shades darker than what they had previously been.

She came to her conclusion. There was something in the water.

Quicker than she thought possible Azula burst upwards from her seated position, Waving her arms like a madman trying to get the boys attention, if she was lucky the unnatural nature of her frantic movements would warn him something was off. To her displeasure it seemed her silent message became distorted by distance, and all she was met with was a happy wave from the Avatar.

No time to remain regal Azula cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted at Aang, "THERE'S SOMETHING IN THE WATER!"

Off the message went, carried on fortunate winds towards Aang. Finally she saw him give pause… Too late.

Faster than she could even tell the Koi he was riding on was ripped downwards from mid-jump back into the dark waters, throwing Aang from its back. She waited on baited breath staring at the waves before seeing his shiny bald head emerge. And she released a small sigh of relief.

Her relief lasted for only a moment though, as her breath hitched once again. At the sight of the large creature that was rising from the depths behind him…

This was not good.

 **Have no fear, your friendly Azulaang shipper is here. You guys all good? Good. Not really any updates to mention with this soapbox. I've entered the home stretch. High school wise, not with this story, I won't stop this gravy train until either everyone is telling me to shut up or I run out of ideas. Anyways, Happy Valentines Day, In case you can't tell. this is how I'm spending mine. So... Yeah, life is good.**

 **Till next time my dudes. Hang Ten.**


	12. Chapter 12

Aang really, really did not want to look behind himself. But his curious nature betrayed him. Against his better judgement, he turned to look behind him at the source of the shadow that had blotted his body from the sun.

His jaw dropped.

A serpent, one as large as… Aang struggled for something to compare the creature to, 6 Appa's lined up tail to horns. A small, meek smile grew on his face, and Aang gladly hid his fear behind it, "Hi there… Mr. Giant Serpent uh… creature, I can see I am interrupting you, So I'm just gonna…" His voice trailed off as the Serpent unleashed a roar that shook Aang to his core. Fully unleashing the Boy's terror.

With a considerably unmanly scream Aang jettisoned himself above the waves and began to propel himself though use of Airbending to run across the water back towards shore.

He was there in under a minute, bursting onto the beach and crashing into the bushes nearby. Somehow winding up upside down.

As a single leaf fell from the trees above him and onto his face, he heard the sound of a barely restrained laugh.

"How is it that despite you almost dying I can still end up laughing at your foolishness? It honestly astounds me."

Azula stood above him now chuckling into a closed fist. Aang wanted to be annoyed with her, but something about the smile on her face drove away his lingering fear and anger. He smiled up at her, "Just part of my Avatar charm I suppose."

Finally suppressing her laughter Azula offered Aang a hand, which he gladly took, "Yes," she replied, "I suppose it is."

Aang gladly took the princesses offered hand, directing a widening smile at her as she pulled him to his feet. "Thanks Azula…"

The words had barely left his mouth before everything went dark.

~0~

Azula groaned slightly as her consciousness slowly returned, her head was throbbing, and and she couldn't see anything. ' _Well, isn't this just great,'_ she thought, ' _knocked out as well as captured. On the bright side it won't be long before the soldiers figure out somethings wrong and come to retrieve us, all we have to do is persevere long enough…_

Her thoughts trailed off as the bag was ripped from her head rather violently, causing Azula to shut her eyes, the light of the sun was far too bright at that moment. A few moments, then a voice began to question her, Anger and suspicion clearly evident in its tone. "Who are you? What does the fire nation want with our island?"

She groaned to herself, ' _ah, it's one of those islands,'_ over the course of the war the fire nation army, under command of firelord Iroh, had generally left the smaller more insignificant islands alone, islands that were either too small to hold any grand army, or didn't have a sizable population of benders, were generally left alone, much to the appreciation of those islands.

Azula herself had always thought it was a poor decision, leaving them alone led to situations like this, where the people occupying the territory believed themselves to be some final pocket of resistance against the fire nation doctrine. It was inefficient and created opportunity for revolution amongst the people, and if Azula had her way they would have conquered places like this too, but her uncle was much softer than she was, often he would quote some idiom or piece of sage advice that he would make up on the spot. She giggled slightly as imagined what his stance of this situation would be, ' _Azula, one can not hope to dominate a world purely on fear of power, there must also be a level of trust.'_

This was what her uncles trust had resulted in. His niece tied to a pole held captive by… Entertainers? With her vision now acclimated to the sun in her eyes Azula could clearly make out her captors, a group of women, sporting armored robes and garish face paint. They were clearly warriors, but Azula recognized an opportunity here, anger caused people to get sloppy, and Azula was great at making people angry.

She laughed loudly, "Well, this is an insult to me. Hey, you, girl in front, yes you, madam impractical golden headpiece, how to keep your balance with that thing? It's unseemly?"

The girl whom Azula was addressing flinched backwards at her crass commentary, reaching her hand up the the large golden headpiece that adorned her brow, it was clearly some sort of identifier, If Azula had to guess it marked her as the leader.

The girl quickly moved past the commentary, her eyes taking on a slightly darker gleam as her anger grew. It was all the princess could do to suppress her own smirk, this was going even better than she had originally planned.

With remarkably quick motions the leader girl had opened a fan of some kind and had it pressed lightly to Azula's throat. She didn't even flinch, "Wow, a fan, should I thank you? It is rather hot today after all." The girl's eyes narrowed, staring into Azula's. Their gazes met, and between a silent battle of wills raged.

After only a few moments of mental battling, the unknown girl released a small sigh. She turned to her troops, "This one won't talk." Azula gave a triumphant huff and allowed a satisfied smirk to grace her lips. The girl glared over at her, but quickly took a deep breath, then sidestepped to Azula's left.

"If we can't get anything out of you," She was addressing Azula, yet her eyes were focused on the pole next to her. Azula's gaze followed the girl's, her eyes widening as she realized who it was tied up next to her, "perhaps we can find out something from him."

Without any further words, the girl reached forwards and ripped the hood from Aang's head, revealing his face to the glaring sunlight once again.

~0~

Personally, Aang really wished Azula hadn't pissed off the scary warrior ladies, he was uncomfortable enough as it was, and it was much harder to diffuse an angry _and_ suspicious person rather than a purely suspicious one.

Still though, that was the hand that he had been dealt, and Aang was someone very good at going with the flow. ' _Best to try and calm them down first,'_ As he felt the bag being removed from his head Aang donned a large and hopefully disarming smile, "Oh, Thank God!" he exclaimed once his head was fully unveiled. "You have _no_ idea how bad it smelled in there," he watched the confused expressions on the girls faces, already caught off guard by the stark difference in attitude. Aang swept his eyes over the crowd, then focused on one of the girls in the back, putting on a meek smile on his face and shrugging his shoulders, "Morning breath," he explained.

There was a brief moment of silence before a small giggle escaped one of the girls mouths, followed by another, and quickly most of the female warriors were emitting a soft chuckle. Aang laughed right alongside them, happy to see some of the previous tension dissipate, and even happier to just barely hear the sound of a barely restrained laugh escaping Azula's throat.

He knew of course it wasn't the best joke, but in high tension situations like this it took only a small push to ruin the moment, in one way or another.

Suddenly there was a piercing sound filling the air as everyone grew silent. And all the warriors stood at attention. The lead girl removed her fingers from her mouth as the whistle dissipated into the atmosphere before turning her glare on Aang. "That is enough!" she shouted angrily, though Aang was fairly certain that comment was directed more at her forces than himself, the girl refused to break eye contact with him.

"That won't work again," she was breathing a bit heavily, but Aang's goal was already accomplished, most of the other girls were far less apprehensive towards he and Azula. Unfortunately, his joke had managed to annoy the leader even more. Aang still couldn't help but smile though. He was in his element here, diffusing situations nonviolently was a specialty of the airbenders after all.

He smiled once again at the leader, "Alright, I'll talk with you, but I think if we are going to get anything done, we should at least know some names. I'll start, my names Aang." he made sure to keep his tone light and jovial, and to maintain the large grin.

The girl eyes him suspiciously, but then taped herself on the chest and introduced herself, "Suki," she gestured back to the other girls, "these are the kyoshi warriors, we are the ones who protect this island. Now, who's your friend if I might ask, the lady dressed in her fancy fire nation robes?"

Aang's smile faltered ever so slightly, he didn't know if he should divulge that information. Although his gut instinct told him he should, the pressure of Azula glaring at him said otherwise. Aang swallowed, he had to speak up, nothing was more suspicious in a negotiation than allowing a question to sit for so long, it would be best to go with the tried and true solution, diverting responsibility.

"I'm sorry, but the manners I was raised on told me it was impolite to introduce someone else for them, so I will respectfully leave it up to my companion to introduce herself." As he finished his sentence Aang threw his gaze over to Azula, trying to mentally convey the importance of the situation.

Azula glared at him once more, then ultimately sighed in defeat. "Azula," she stated it it bluntly, but Aang took notice of the slight widening that grew across their faces. As quickly as that they all dropped in to battle ready poses, "The fire nation princess," Suki spat the designation out, "I knew you were no good."

Aang's smile dropped, he was not expecting for a simple name to devolve the situation so quickly.

"Wait!" he shouted. Suki's eyes shot over to him, anger and suspicion very evident in her eyes. "We're not here to invade you or anything! We're just here because Azula was obliging my request," Aang suddenly felt rather sheepish, their original reason for being present on the island seemed rather foolish in regards for the current situation.

Suki continued to eye him suspiciously, "Why in the world would she do that? No offense, but we have no Idea who you are, and the fire nation isn't exactly known to do favors for anyone not in the fire nation."

Aang let a breath go, "She did it because…" Suki was standing straight again, her arms crossed over her chest as she looked at him, one eyebrow raised. Aang paused. He wasn't exactly sure how to address this. One look at the waiting warrior, and he decided the best solution would just be to simply tell the truth.

"She did it because I am the Avatar."

 **I got this chapter done actually really quickly, mainly because the story is rather interesting to think through. We're nearing the halfway point of the arc, so things are going to get kind of interesting. Things to look forward to in the future, Zuko and Iroh will have appearances coming up, nothing huge, but they will be there. Aang and Azula will definitely start to figure things out, though Aang is a lot closer to accepting the facts than she is, and our two central protagonists will be leaving the comfy safety of their nice fire nation ship for the closeness of the saddle of a giant white fluff-ball.**

 **Thanks for reading as always, and be sure to tell me thoughts and maybe suggestions. Nothing I have said is set in stone and can be subject to change depending on how things go.**

 **Till next time. ~Zorcoz~**


	13. Chapter 13

**~0~**

Deafening silence. Of all the possible results he could have gotten from his impromptu statement, this was the most unclear as to the result he had achieved.

Aang swept his gaze over the warriors and took stock of their expressions. Some stood with confusion, others shock, and some, their leader included, simply stared at him with anger.

"The Avatar?" her look was a combination of anger mixed with disbelief. "Don't be stupid, _intruder,_ " she emphasized the last word, and Aang sighed. Suki was very clearly about to continue, but Aang decided it was best to end the situation as it currently stood.

Taking a deep breath Aang filled his lungs to their ultimate capacity and then some, to the point where even his cheeks puffed out in a hilarious to look at way. Suki, who hadn't been expecting the rapid inhalation, found her words caught in her throat as she stumbled a half a step backwards. Then in a motion just as fast as the first the last airbender exhaled as hard as he could… and disappeared.

~0~

Azula watched the girls reaction to the avatar's disappearing act for a few moments before speaking up. "You can relax you know, it was purely a demonstration I assure you."

The lead girl, Suki, if Azula had heard correctly, swiveled her head in Azula's direction. "What. Did. He. Do?" Azula resisted the urge to laugh at this girls attempt at being intimidating, she had dealt with far scarier situations when she was receiving a light scolding from her father.

"As I said before, It was just a demonstration, If you would kindly direct your gaze upward," Azula punctuated her sentence by pointing a finely manicured nail to the sky, nonchalantly revealing that his absence had slackened the ropes enough for the princess to free herself, "You will see the almighty master of the elements gently floating down the heavens like the feather from… well whatever birds you have on this rock you call a home."

One by one the warriors turned their gazes skywards, and their mouths wordlessly fell open. Azula once again found herself smiling against herself as she too turned her gaze skyward to see her young traveling companion drifting towards the ground, his clothes ballooning out from his back as he manipulated air currents through the cloth in order to slow his descent back towards the ground.

In the back of her mind, Azula did her best to ignore the tiny voice she heard saying, ' _That's him, that's_ _ **my**_ _Aang.'_

~0~

Kyoshi Village, on the Island of Kyoshi, was a quaint little town, it only one real claim to fame in the form of it's Kyoshi warriors, famous throughout the earth kingdom for their efficiency and effectiveness in combat. However, when the war had began, many of the warrior order had set out to fight the Fire Nation threat. In time, the entire outbound forces had been wiped out, and only those left on the island had remained. It was under those conditions that the young chief Oyaji had decided that Kyoshi would withdraw from any and all active war efforts, and would instead focus on defending their home with hope to last until the Avatar would come again.

That had been near 40 or 50 years ago, and Oyaji had long since lost hope that the protector of balance in the known world would ever return. That was, until this morning, when his warriors brought to him reports of a young boy with blue arrow tattoos accompanying some fire nation official.

He had thought them spies, and ordered them captured, then he received reports of their identities, and had he been drinking anything when it had arrived the courier would have found themselves doused in his fictional beverage. The avatar and… the fire nation princess.

The small fire of hope in Oyaji's chest quickly died down to a tiny ember, barely even penetrating the void of hopelessness the chief felt in his heart. If the avatar truly did travel with the Fire Nation, then all was lost, the world's best chance of reclaiming the conquered world had now sided with the enemy.

Still though, Oyaji had a job to do, it was his duty as village chief to to face any threat to his people head on, come what may, and it was, with that in mind, that he summoned their, "Guests" to him.

~0~

Aang watched the man who sat across from them closely, the man looked at them with a morbid expression, he eyes flickering between Aang and Azula, the latter of whom was calmly sipping on some tea.

The tension in the room was palpable, and Aang fidgeted with his fingers underneath the large wooden table that the three sat at. Aang felt the urge to say something, but he found himself at a loss for words. He could try to talk his way through almost anything, but now this, he had a suspicion that this was some form of formal talk, and he had not even a concept of how to go about doing anything in this format.

After a long silence, Aang finally opened his mouth to speak… Only to be cut off by a satisfied exhalation Azula. "Aaaah," she seemed almost too relaxed for the atmosphere they were in, Aang couldn't help but admire her for that, though he supposed with her being a princess, any form of government interaction would be like second nature to her.

"I must say," Azula continued, with Aang listening intently beside her, "That was a rather decent cup of tea, though I would definitely claim my Uncle is able to beat it," Aang got a bit confused, why would she start talking about the tea in this situation? Still he stayed silent and listened as Azula continued to talk.

"He's a funny man, my uncle. A man who commands the entire world, anything and everything, yet he still lowers himself to make tea to drink with the servants. I never understood that about him. He always says that to rule in fear, is to rule with fear of being overthrown. A stupid idea in my mind, it was with that logic that he decided not to conquer islands of little significance like this one here. I wonder what his response would be now, considering the treatment the Avatar and myself received."

Then it finally clicked inside of Aang. She was threatening them.

Aang was not a stupid person, or at least, he did not think he was. He was well aware that the princess was not a peace loving person, he could gather that much from the way the crew of her vessel seemed to walk on eggshells when it came to dealing with her directly. He was willing to be understanding for that, not everyone was raised on airbender philosophy after all. But that didn't mean Aang would let people be bullied right in front of his eyes.

He could not stand for this, and turned angrily on his companion, "Azula!" he exclaimed, a small bit of anger present. Azula turned to him, confusion evident, "are you honestly threatening them!?"

He watched the princess blink at his anger, then she opened her mouth… then closed it again, then opened it, "I…"

Aang decided to cut her off, "I agreed to go with you, in order to avoid Katara and Sokka being harmed, but do not think that only extends to them. I will not stand by and watch while you hold other people to threat of invasion for a simple misunderstanding! Not at all! Now I'm leaving, if you want to stop me, cease with the threats and come and do so."

It was the least conflict ridden solution he could think of in the heat of the moment, and without any further word, he stood and swiftly marched out the door, leaving a gaping mouthed Azula sitting at the table behind him. He didn't even notice the girl sitting outside the window of the building as he left.

~0~

 **Several Days Later**

Zuko had never liked the throne room. The sweltering heat from the constantly ignited flames surrounding the Fire Lord's seat always seemed so oppressive. In his own personal opinion, not at all fitting of his uncles personality. Despite that, he still kneeled before the throne, bowing his head to his uncle sitting before him.

Iroh stared down at him, and Zuko felt a the pressure of his gaze, despite how well he got along with his uncle, Zuko could feel the serious nature that Iroh adopted when he truly acted as the fire lord in that moment.

"Zuko," the Fire Lord finally spoke, "You have been in trouble lately, ever since your recent outburst," Zuko shuddered at the mention of it, he had been a bit careless at a recent gala, and had accidentally insulted one of the generals in the Fire Nation Military, not a major general, but still one who held enough sway to be more important than the son of the Fire Lord's brother, and while his Uncle had waived any serious punishment, his father had not been happy with the results.

"The time has now come for you to redeem yourself, Zuko," His uncle continued his speech, and Zuko tore himself away from his thoughts to resume listening, "The Avatar has been found."

Zuko didn't speak for a moment as that sunk in. Then he darted his gaze up towards his uncle, "What?" He spoke only a bit louder, it was improper to yell before the Fire Lord, "What do you mean Uncle? I thought the Avatar had disappeared 100 years ago?"

"HE DID DISAPPEAR!" His uncle bellowed, and Zuko shrunk back a bit, "He disappeared and it was his absence for our people to achieve the victory they now celebrate today. However," his uncle paused to regain his breath, "If the avatar is truly alive, as the rumors I have heard say, Then you will find him on Kyoshi island, You will go there to investigate, and if he truly is residing there, you will capture him, and bring him to me." Zuko bowed his head lower before responding. "Yes Uncle," he said, then waited for the Fire lords dismissal. "That is all Zuko, now go, there is a ship waiting for you in the port." Once again Zuko repeated, "yes uncle," before standing and moving towards the door. He had an avatar to catch.

 **Finally got this chapter to the point where it at least feels like I can release it. I hit some major writers block after the last chapter, so this took me a couple tries to finally get right. Still though here it is, rumors are flying and our main coupling is fighting... kind of. The conflict of personality that these two have is so hard to properly handle. Still trying though. Feel free to comment and leave your thoughts, I try to take everything I can into consideration when I write these chapters out.**

 **Till Next Time**


	14. Chapter 14

~0~

He felt the brisk sea breeze running across his face before he actually saw the waters of the ocean. Zuko took a deep breath, allowing the slightly fishy smell to fill him. It was a wonderful smell, and it filled him with nostalgia, causing him to think back to happier times, of vacations on Ember Island, and playing with Lu Ten, that had been before he was crown prince. Zuko's cousin rarely had the freedom or time to do things like they used to.

Zuko pushed the nostalgic thoughts out of his head as he crested a hill and the harbor came into view.

As his eyes laid upon the ship that his Uncle had assigned for Zuko to use on his mission, he found his breath being stolen away. It was a beauty of a vessel, sleek and low to the water, yet still seeming regal, and well made. With a large golden dragon adorning the bow to add that bit of fire nation flavor to the vessel.

A wide smile spread across the young man's face as he then picked up the pace, moving at a speed just short of running towards the vessel. Ignoring everything but the shine of the sun blowing off the gold of that dragon.

He only slowed down as he neared the vessel itself, then breathed deeply to recompose himself with the dignity that he needed to uphold. Then, with his back held high he began to march the final few meters towards the vessels gangplank.

As he approached a soldiers helmeted head, calling in a slightly muffled voice, "Prince Zuko?" it questioned as he approached. "Yes," was all he gave in reply.

The soldier nodded, and stood up, gesturing for the prince to board, "The fire lord told us you would be headed our way, we are prepared to depart for Kyoshi island immediately." Zuko nodded his thanks to the soldier as he boarded the vessel.

"Thank you, We shall depart immediately, how soon till we can get there?" The soldier sounded like he was smirking behind the mask of his helmet as he responded, "The _Storm Dragon_ is the fastest vessel in the Fire Nation navy, we can be there in as little time as two days."

Zuko smiled at this and nodded his consent when the soldier asked to be dismissed to return to duty. Within the recesses of his mind he had a feeling that whatever was to come in the near future, it would be incredibly interesting.

~0~

Aang sat along by himself, resting on a tree and staring out into the sky, just thinking about the past few days.

Since his outburst in the meeting with the chief he hadn't talked or even really looked at Azula. If he was honest with himself, he wasn't mad anymore, but that wasn't the issue he was dealing with. He knew Azula was not the kindest person, that much was obvious, but he had hoped that in traveling with him she would soften up. Even if it was only a little bit. However, he action and way of speaking in that meeting had revealed something that he hadn't realized previously. Azula was not just cruel on a surface level. To some degree there was a sharp edge built into her personality, a cruelty that even with years of training with the wisest monks he had known would not have likely dulled much of.

That being said, he didn't want to give up on her. In the moment, he could not for the life of himself give a reason as to why he couldn't, but it was as if there was some kind of force, driving him to strive harder, whispering in his ears that he could do it, that if anyone could wear away the edges of her personality it was him.

Aang sighed deeply to himself, there was so much turmoil inside his head he had to sort out before he could even hope of helping Azula. But still, he could try. Maybe…

"Ahem," he found his train of thought cut off by the sound of a man's cough below him. Rather quickly, Aang turned and looked down through the branches, only to see the figure of the Village Chief standing below him and staring upwards.

The man cleared his throat again before speaking, "Pardon my interruption Avatar, but I was hoping… well, I was hoping that you would be willing to have a chat.

~0~

Azula was confused. Just so, so confused. Her thoughts were so jumbled and she was making mistakes the past few days. The Avatar wasn't talking to her. She should just be shrugging it off, moving on. Take him by force and drag him to face her Uncle in the Fire Nation, just cut her impromptu tour of the world short, right then and there. But something held her back. Every time she tried to send off a messenger hawk, or signal for the troops on board her ship to move in, burn the village down and recapture her prisoner, it was if his face flashed across her mind… and she hesitated.

Already she knew that they had spent far more time than they should have here. The troops on board her ship were growing impatient, and if she didn't force something underway soon, they were liable to revolt. She couldn't have that.

For now they were ordered to hold position anchored a few miles away from the shoreline of the island, somewhere around halfway between the island and the mainland, likely closer to the latter, as she and the avatar could simply fly over to them, and they probably take the delay as a chance for some shoreleave. It was fair enough… she supposed.

As she continued to ponder, she noticed just a bit of movement from the corner of her eyes, and she flicked her head in the direction of it.

Aang, and that foolish boy of a man that the villagers labeled as chief. _Now,_ her thoughts focused in on the sight of Aang trailing behind the chief, _What are you up to now?_

Without emitting a single noise, She rose to her feet, and began to sneak off, after the pair.

~0~

Oyaji knew what he was about to attempt was a long shot, unlikely to happen in the current state of the world. Some, even among the warriors, would call him insane to even think of it. Especially considering with whom the Avatar traveled.

But after the display a few days ago, he figured if there was ever a chance. It was now. The Avatar followed behind him at lackadaisical pace, nonchalantly peering around at the scenery as they went walking through the village. It had been cleaned up, and was looking much nicer than it had last week, if Oyaji could say so himself.

As they finally reached the large building that served as his home, Oyaji turned to Aang and held the door, gesturing for him to enter. The young boy barely even batted an eye as he did so.

The butterflies in his stomach were growing more intense now, and he was fighting the urge to wring his hands together, he could not seem nervous, not now.

As he held closed the door behind him, Oyaji moved to the longroom, the table still in the same position it had been in when the Avatar had visited his house last time, with the Fire Nation Princess. He was hoping that the connection to a rather unpleasant memory would help to instigate the young boys emotions and sway him to agree with Oyaji's opinions. But he couldn't act on that just yet, no, he had to handle this carefully.

He took his seat, and the avatar sat opposite of him. His face was blank, Oyaji couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. But he forged ahead despite his own doubts, clearing his throat for the third time that evening.

"I must thank you again for taking the time to speak with me, Avatar," he started, keeping his tone humble. The Avatar simply smiled at him, and spoke in a cheery tone, "Just Aang is fine, I am not much of an Avatar in my current state."

Oyaji smiled warmly, though he did not truly accept what the young boy said. Master of all elements or not, the boy was the avatar, he was innately powerful, nothing would change that, even if he didn't exactly have command over the present elements.

"Don't be so Modest avatar, you are an extremely important person, both for me and for the people of the world."

The Avatar seemed to grow a bit sheepish at his praise, his cheeks grew slightly more red as he looked to the ground, running his hand across his clean shaven head.

As quickly and easily as his smile formed watching the young boy, Oyaji forced his face into a much harder expression, now was the time to be serious.

"Avatar, while I'm glad for the pleasantries I'm afraid I have something a bit more… Unpleasant to discuss with you." Instantly the blush and smile were gone, and the boy stared at Oyaji with an unreadable expression. It seemed to be such a large mixture of things, constantly flowing between disappointment, anger, sadness, and determination. He stared at Oyaji for a moment, but then his expression faded, and became a clear face of exasperation.

The boy sighed, then spoke, his voice seemed tired, despite the energy he had held only moments before. "I think I can guess what this is about, but I think I will let you tell me."

Oyaji swallowed a bit harder, that was not a good omen for what he was about to request… No, he couldn't falter, not in this moment. It was the only chance that he would get. He spoke quickly, "What is the relation you share with the Fire Nation Princess?" The question hung in the air for a while after he said it. Aang just stared across at the chieftain of the village. After a pregnant pause, the young airbender finally licked his lips in preparation for his answer.

"That is… a complicated question to answer. And it is something I find myself wondering myself, especially in the past few days. Azula and I seem to have completely opposing ideologies and personalities. Yet by nature of an agreement made for the benefit of a third party, we find ourselves working as traveling companions. By definition, I suppose I am a prisoner. But I don't feel like I am, there is… something extra, in my relationship with Azula. I can't name what it is, I honestly don't even know myself."

The avatar trailed off, as he almost seemed to be lost in thought, but then his eyes brightened once again, returning to the childlike gleam that had been present before the boy's little monologue. "Are you going to eat that?!" he asked in an excited tone before quickly reaching across the table in order to grab the Moon Peach that had been on his plate and quickly taking a bite, causing the juices within to dribble down his chin like a teardrop.

Oyaji continued his earlier point after a moment of shock at the abrupt mood change. "If your relationship is so ambiguous, I must ask, do you have any plan to save our world? You have the power to return us to how things were before, with only a bit of training, you could liberate the water tribes and the Earth Kingdoms, and we could fight back against the Fire Nation. You could save all of us Avatar! If only you would be willing to help us!"

There was no pause this time, there was no hesitation as Aang looked at the man before him. "Can I?" his eyes were full of sadness, and Oyaji was taken aback by the look in his eyes. Aang stood up to look out the window and he began to speak again, his tone was somber and weak.

"Do you know anything about Air Nomad culture Chief Oyaji? You don't need to answer, anything you do know is likely superficial at best. Air Nomads teach about the sacred nature of life. We had no military, and even the use of air in any combative way was frowned upon unless completely necessary. No other element worked like that, Water, Earth, Fire, each of the other three elements thrived mainly through use in combat, and grew in other forms to supplement their combative ability. From what I understand, when I disappeared the world continued on into 89 years of War. I'm just a kid, but even I can tell you that in war, people die."

At this point Aang turned to look at Oyaji, his eyes, still depressed at a glance, held a fierce determination, "I will not sink the world back into war, not to fight a battle that was lost 11 years ago."

Oyaji slumped over, he spoke quietly, defeated, "then there is no hope after all, if this is to be what happens. It would have been better for you to have never returned at all, Avatar. It would have prevented us from getting our hopes up."

Aang walked slowly around the table and he kneeled before the old man. "I think you misunderstand something Oyaji. I said that I would not lead others to fight, I did not say that I would not try to fix things."

Oyaji looked up at the young man before him, his evidently obvious, as Aang quickly resumed. "There's always more than one way to resolution. In this situation, diplomacy may prove to be prudent. Pay attention to Azula's words of her Uncle, he sounds like a man of reason, a Fire Lord whom can be bargained with. What Azula may consider worthless nonsense, can be a path to being at the very least treated fairly. I can't tell you that I will bring liberation, but I can try to bring comfort. That's all I can offer you, unfortunately."

Oyaji felt something inside of him at the young man's words those small embers of hope were growing ever brighter, he may not achieve what Oyaji wanted, the world would likely never return to the way it had been in the past, but he could at least have hope that the future could be brighter with this young man trying to make it so. He felt a tear escape his eyes as he looked at the young boy before him, but he said nothing.

Aang nodded at him and stood tall again. He turned on his heel, and swiftly exited the building.

~0~

Azula sat slumped against the wall of the chieftain's home. She was exhausted. So much worrying over nothing. She had heard Aang's thoughts. She briefly considered punishing the old man who currently sat crumpled on the other side of the wall, Talks of violence against the fire nation were no laughing matter, but something inside of her told her now was not the time for that. It was a small voice, but she heard it whisper, warning that to take action now would crumble everything she had with Aang, and she just couldn't bear the thought of losing him now.

 **Whew, another chapter deployed. How long does that make it between updates this time? I don't really want to think about it. Next chapter will close up the Kyoshi Island Arc, simple as it was, so for those looking forwards to that, yay for you =). If anyone has any questions they really want answered feel free to ask, the next chapter will be shorter, so I can fill up that extra space with some answers. I'm really happy with the small following this story has gathered, makes me feel like I'm actually making something worth while, so yeah.**

 **Anyways... Till next Time!**


	15. Chapter 15

**AHAHAHAHAHA! I AM ALIVE! When did I say I would get this chapter out? June? Yeah, so, that was a lie. but, in all honesty, I have been busy, I went to Japan, embraced my inner weeb, bought a shit ton of manga I can't even read, then I got back kinda invested myself in work. and then I started college so thats a whole lot of events, wasn't really in the mood to write through all of that, Sorry. But for those who did stay, or those who find this because its bumped near the top of the recent updates list, I did a solid chapter, this one is longer than a lot of my others, and I rather like a few parts of this. If you want more updates faster, leave comments, I generally use those to gauge interest. and the more detailed comments also help give me ideas on how to progress the story. Anyway, that's all.**

 **Here's the chapter.**

Zuko stood of the portside of his vessel, looking off at the island that sat off in the not to far distance. He breathed in, holding it air to himself, and felt his inner fire rise and fall with his breaths.

Somewhere on that Island, the avatar was alive. He couldn't imagine he would be that hard to capture however. The next cycle of the avatar after air was water, and the fire nation had all of the waterbenders either locked up or under careful watch, that would likely mean that the avatar on that island was a frail old man, hardly a difficult capture.

As he sat, twirling his thoughts in his mind, Zuko failed to notice the approaching vessel until it blasted it's horn.

He was roused from his thoughts in an instant as he glanced back upwards. The ship was coming to a halt next to his own, though it's large hull, intended for battle and endurance rather than speed, towered over the deck of his own ship.

Looking back towards the bridge, Zuko signaled the captain to allow boarding, and watched as the long metal boarding planks were lowered onto the deck of the vessel.

A man appeared at the side of the vessel, walking calmly downwards. As soon as he saw the young prince, he gave a salute, "Prince Zuko, what are you doing here?" his words seemed honestly shocked. Zuko took note of that in his mind ' _he must not know about the avatar'_ before he could respond however, the captain got an odd look in his eye as he spoke, "are you perhaps here for an impromptu visit to your sister?"

As soon as it was mentioned, Zuko releases and involuntary shudder, he really was not comfortable around Azula, but why would the captain mention her? Unless…

Against himself Zuko found his gaze drifting from the old captain towards the bow of the larger vessel.

There it was, he had been so lost in his thoughts he had completely missed the royal insignia emblazoned on the side of the vessel. This was Azula's ship. While he shuddered to consider talking with her, he supposed that her help would be good in handling the avatar, so he decided to move along with the flow of conversation. He smiled at the captain the best he could, only really pulling off an oddly humorous rendition of an evil smirk.

"Why yes, Captain, I am here to visit my sister, if you would be so kind as to take me to her." the captain was holding back a small laugh, so Zuko released his facial expression, instantly he noted the captain recovered, it was actually pretty good self-discipline, he would still be talking with his sibling on the matter.

"...ere" once again pulled by his inner monologues, Zuko had missed the start of the captains sentence. "My apologies captain, could you repeat that?" this time he managed a slightly more natural smile, and the captain did not waiver in his response. "Yes my Prince, The Princess is not currently here."

This took the young prince aback, "If she is not _here,_ " he spoke rather quickly, trying not to let his irritation show, "where is she?"

The captain… hesitated, before replying, looking back to who Zuko assumed was his first mate, only for the second man to give a small shrug in response to his captains gaze. The captain turned back to the prince, "The princess is currently on the Island, entertaining a…" His voice trailed off as he was trying to gather his thoughts, "Guest, yes, that's right, a guest."

Zuko did not need to know anymore, he knew his sister, she didn't entertain anyone, she had beaten him here, but this was his assignment, he would not let his sister steal all the glory, not this time.

Now he spoke loud and firm, a tone of command on his tongue. Captain, I want you and all your men to assist me, we're taking your landing craft and heading ashore. This is an order from a Prince in direct association with a request made by the Fire Lord himself, we're going to capture the avatar."

The Captain, to his own credit, barely even flinched before he responded.

"Yes, Prince Zuko." the older man offered a small bow, before turning on heel, and returning to his vessel, his first mate following close behind, and as the metal ramp returned to its original vessel, Zuko quickly made his way back inside his own vessel.

He had preparations to make.

~0~

She was sat in a rather listless position when he walked entered the room. Her body slumped against the wall, one arm draped over her stomach, and her gaze set off into the distance, seeming to latch onto something a million miles away, yet he suspected whatever that was had no physical presence in the world they lived in.

His movements were rather stiff on approach, every limb in his body wanted to run away, avoid this conflict, but he was intent, and sooner or later he had to deal with this issue, if for no other reason than to prevent a rupture in their deal witch would lead to Katara's recapture.

They sat in silence for a long moment, and she did not acknowledge his presence in either body language or vocal phrase. In that moment, his thoughts raced, a million threads of conversation trying to present themselves in a single moment, and yet none seemed capable of breaching the topic that needed to be addressed. And thus their silence continued, the long seconds soon stretching into minutes.

Too long after he entered the room. Aang finally opened his mouth to speak, "A…" He got no further than that. "Have you ever fought in a battle avatar?" Her voice was quiet, and calm. It came in this almost whisp-like tone, her million yard stare reflected in the breathy release of each word from her mouth.  
Caught off guard, he simply shook his head, and Azula simply continued. "I can't really say I have either, the war ended right as I was born, but the turmoil following my nations ascension to power meant that I was trained for it. After all, there were still insurrectionists, rebels, even traitors amongst our own people who conspired against the throne, at those times it was deemed necessary that I might be able to defend myself, no matter the threat."

Aang couldn't say anything, he didn't feel it was appropriate for him to do so at this time, instead all he did was inch just ever closer to her as she spoke.

"From that context you might think I view myself the victim of circumstance, that my more violent tendencies are a product of a violent upbringing, but that's not the case, I don't want you to think that. If I'm being honest, it's like I was built for a war that finished too soon. I excelled in everything I was taught, it was too easy almost, by my tenth year not even some of the palace royal guard, those chosen specifically to protect my uncle, the fire lord, could hold against me in a fight."

Her tone at this point had become exuberant she spoke with passion, her actions vivid and at certain points there was a faint chuckle hidden beneath her words. He wanted smile with her, but as quickly as the words came from her mouth, they soon slowed once again

"But when my training was finally complete I was left to ask myself, what was the point? At that point there was no more war, and most the conflicts had been dealt with, so what was I someone so prodigious in the way of combat, supposed to do when there were no battles to work with the abilities I was gifted with?" Aang still remained silent, but at this point he had drifted close enough, and he laid a hand on her shoulder, and stared at her. She paused a moment as he did so flicking her eyes down to his hand, and stared, waiting, when it was evident Aang would do nothing else for the moment, she again continued her tale.

"Of course with no outlet for my actual talent, I turned to the next best thing, my uncle did often say that politics were a worse battlefield than anything he had experienced on the warfront. As it turned out, my skills were rather well applied in this front too." As she said this she held her palm up, cradling the air as though she held a delicate flower visible only to herself, and without warning a brilliant azure blue flame kept to life in her palm, "politicians are just that, they tend to lack in other skills, and thus I found that oftentimes I could achieve much quicker and easier with a threat to my opponents well being, rather than taking the harder route of trying to appeal to their greater senses."

Now she spoke with a certain bitter resentment in her voice, her gaze had shifted, in met the dancing blaze in her palm with it's own vigorous intensity, and she spoke now with a hardened edge. It was at this point that she now turned to Aang, and though she tried to hold the edge in her voice as her eyes met his, he could see then soften and saw her fight them as they did, it was so clear that she wanted to seem unfazed by this, but was a hair past the line of keeping herself collected and it tortured her to know that was the case.

"There were only on rare occasions people on whom my tactics were… ineffective, and for those I often had to find different routes, more… " she sighed once before resuming. "Peaceful."

As she was nearing the end of her speech, Aang began to sport a much larger smile.

"My point in telling you this Aang, is that it is now evident that you are one of these people, and it will not benefit either you or me to push on some of my more serious matters. So instead I offer you a compromise, you must recognize that by my own nature I will respond to violence with violence, and if I determine something to be of malicious nature, I will respond however I deem fit, no matter your personal objections. However, I also realise that just like myself, you too have your own code of ethics, and when it should apply, I will defer to you in situations where it may be applicable and when you are serving another role that serves more than just being my captive. Do you agree to this?"

She looked fully at him now, finally done speaking, and simply waited for his response.

To his own credit, Aang did take a moment, though only a moment to think over his reply before he looked at her once more, a large smile spread across his face. "Deal!" he beamed energetically. This was the first step of a path that Aang felt would bring him only joy in his oncoming future.

If only his joyous moment wasn't cut short by the sounds of screams reaching his ears from outside of the room.

~0~

He was out the door before Azula could grab on to hold him there, his staff in hand and off into the breeze, heading towards the sounds of distress. Azula too looked in that direction, and quickly took note of the plumes of smoke wafting into the open air, carried inwards towards the land by the winds of the open sea. Not for the first time in the last few minutes, she let out a sigh, no matter what this was, it would be anything but a peaceful situation. With that final though, she took off after her supposed captive, who currently was nothing more than a disappearing dot in the skies above her.

~0~

As Aang flew to the village he prepared himself for the worse, a forest fire primarily. And gathered himself to try and think of a solution, he did not yet know waterbending, and without that he had to be extremely cautious in how he dealt with a blaze, simply blowing wind at a large enough fire would only serve to make it burn stronger, a path which he did not wish to delve down.

After only a few short moments the village came into view and saw… he immediately stopped his approach, controlling the winds to make a rapid, yet relatively safe, vertical descent to the ground below.

As he did so he was met with a small yelp as Azula was blown onto her back from the force of the wind. She questioned him in a slightly bitter tone as he helped her to stand. "What has gotten into you Avatar? First you run off with the speed of a man whose children are burning, and now you plummet to the earth like a bird with its wings removed?! Please do explain."

Aang swallowed a lump as he explained, There are… more than one, fire nation ships on the shoreline,"

As the words left his mouth, Azula just rolled her eyes in response. She looked at him with an exasperated expression before she spoke again, "Have you forgotten who you're travelling with here? Come on, perhaps we can put our newly arranged deal to work already, lets go deal with some visitors, hmm?" she gave him a coy smile as she walked past him, idly twirling a strand of her hair on her finger as she went.

As Aang followed behind her he noted, with a hint of uncertainty, that Azula was humming a soft tune to herself as she strode confidently into the shoreside town.

~0~

To his own credit, Zuko was holding his rage exceptionally well, when he had first arrived and the man who he had attempted to interrogate refused to cooperate, he had simply set a nearby cart of straw ablaze, rather than the entire town, which he had been quite tempted to do.

However, what he wasn't ready for, was what happened shortly after that, the villager fled, hiding in his easily burnable hut with his wife who had screamed annoyingly loud when he had blasted the aforementioned straw. Then, just as he was about to approach the man again, he heard it, the one thing that was never accompanied by good news.

"Oh my goodness, ZuZu?!" he felt a shiver run up his spine as he hear the nickname, every one of his instincts told him to run, but nevertheless he turned on his heel and greeted his sister, "Azula," he practically growled out the name. There she was, Azula stood in the middle of the pathway, a disturbingly genuine grin spread across her face as she looked at him. Slightly behind her stood a young boy, likely maybe 2 years younger than her, he stared between the two of them, glancing back and forth, and Zuko took the time to observe him. The boy, though about a head shorter than Azula, stood tall and proud, and there was an astonishing amount of maturity hidden behind his gaze. He was rather skinny, and his skin was a light tanned, with blue lines running down his arms and ending in arrows over the backs of his hands. A pattern which also existed in the tattoo which curver over the boys head, with the point of the arrow ending in the middle of the boys forehead. Any money Zuko had to bet would be that boy would be the Avatar.

The boy leaned over to Azula and whispered something into her ear. He still had his hand mouth to her ear as she burst out laughing. "Of course I know him! I mean, why wouldn't I know my _dear_ older brother?" she emphasis she placed on the word 'dear' made him incredibly uncomfortable, still though he had to be friendly, she was family, insults and childhood torment aside.

"Am I right in assuming your companion is the Avatar Azula?"

As the words left his mouth Azula's gaze went from playful teasing, to sharp and serious, he knew that look, it was the same look she used when assisting Uncle Iroh in dealing with the politicians. She was getting serious. Her next words were dripping with suspicion. "I suppose he is. May I ask why you're asking ZuZu?"

He was ready for this question. "Uncle has sent me to retrieve him and bring him back to the fire nation."

This time Zuko heard the audible gasp from the Avatar. He took a step back, but Azula grabbed his sleeve, holding him in place. She released a sigh and kicked the dirt, "I suppose there's no choice then, alright, allow me and Aang to go get our things, we shall be along shortly."

Just like that he turned on a heel and began to walk away. "Hold it!" Zuko shouted after her, and she paused midstep. "What is it now ZuZu?" There was ice in her tone as she looked back at her brother.

"Leave the avatar here. You can get your stuff alone."

Azula's stare intensified for only a moment before she spoke in her more typical sarcasm laced sing-song tone, "Awww, ZuZu, don't you trust me? Besides, you know me, I have so much, it's quite a lot for one person to carry, I really do need Aang's help." She tried to give him a pouting expression as she placed a hand on the avatar's shoulder, gripping it only just a little.

Zuko simply scoffed, "No, I really don't, and I've been to your ship, most of your stuff is still on board."

His sister laughed, "they're called souvenirs ZuZu, try picking them up sometime, they are rather interesting baubles,"

Zuko stood firm. Azula pouted for a only a second before she straightened her posture, and spoke again, "Ugggh, fine, I tried to do this the easy way. Sorry ZuZu, but I did make a deal, and I believe keeping this one will ultimately be more beneficial. Tell uncle I'll make sure we come back once we finish up with his Bucket list."

"Wha-" Zuko couldn't even clarify his confusion before his sister launched a wall of bright blue flames, obscuring her and the avatar from view. He screamed in surprise and rage, and as the wall cleared, he screamed even louder when it was revealed his sister and the avatar were nowhere to be seen. He turned to his soldiers, his face red with anger.

"FIND THEM" he shouted with finality, not even noticing before it was too late, the image of a gargantuan bison rising into the air and flying into the distance, disappearing into the horizon, carrying both his sister and the avatar even farther away from his grasp.


	16. Chapter 16

He didn't know what to do anymore. Before now, everything had always been laid out before him, his life had structure and meaning. At the temples, the monks had allows enforced some level of scheduling, morning meditation, followed by lessons, a short break for lunch, a small recess for the younger acolytes, then more teachings and meditations before the dinner and finally being off to sleep. Sure he had always endeavored the occasional break from the schedule, to bake pies with Giatso, or to work on personal techniques like his air scooter, but those had only ever been small detours from the norm.

Even after being frozen, he had a schedule, as the Princess's prisoner she had always been the one to lay things out, to plan everything, his own requested detours included. But now there was nothing planned, nothing set in stone, and he found himself at a loss.

With his mind in still in turmoil he turned once more to the girl behind him. Azula sat there in the middle of the saddle, her eyes closed and legs crossed beneath her. In front of her a small blue flame sat in her palm, dancing wildly as it fought against the high winds of the sky to stay alight.

As he opened his mouth to speak, so to did she, her words shooting from her mouth faster than he could formulate his own thoughts.

"For the last time avatar, I do not know what we should do, I haven't known the last thirty times you have asked me, and I certainly don't know now."

As she spoke, her brow furrowed and her lips turned into a small snarl, the flame before her surging in power for only a moment before being dashed away, finally losing to the winds it had been attempting to combat.

Azula let out a frustrated groan before fixating her gaze on the airbender before her.

"As I told you several times, at this point you and I are more than likely on some form of Fire Nation watch list. I wouldn't go as far as to say that I have been marked a criminal, it wouldn't do for a princess of the Fire Nation to "betray" her country. I imagine you have been labeled as a dangerous fugitive who has kidnapped me and now is off on some grand adventure to usurp the firelord. How does that sound to you?"

Aang swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat.

"I… Wh… Why would I be labeled as attempting to usurp the throne? That makes no sense. What reason do I have to do that?"

Azula sighed once more before before replying. "It's a matter of politics that is far too complex for me to explain right now dumdum. You want advice, find someone else to give it to you. I'm busy."

With a tone of finality to her voice, Azula straightened her back and closed her eyes once more, the small blue flame flickering back to life before her as she did so. Aang took only a brief moment to admire the way the wind swept the girls long bangs across her pale face before turning to face the unknown sky once more.

She told him to find someone else from whom he could take advice, yet he struggled to think of anyone who he could turn to. It had been 100 years since he held a conversation with anyone, most of the people he considered to be friends were likely no longer around.

As Aang's brain searched for anyone who he could possibly turn to for advice, it eventually settled on one person in particular. It was a long shot to be sure, and if he told Azula who he wanted to turn to she would no doubt call him crazy. But he could not help it, he was stuck between a rock and a hard place, and he needed someone who could expand his mind to the possibilities.

He needed a mad genius.

 **And just shy of half a year after my last update I return once more, shocking some people and reminding others that they were following this story. shocking I know, but it is indeed fact that I have yet to forget this is a thing. I know it took a while, but starting college and dealing with everything that came with that took some time. But I'm back now. I hope I can work on this more often, and you as a reader can encourage that to happen if you follow the fic and comment. I feel so wierd asking people to do that, like I got a big head with my mildly... Popular? story. In any case you know what to do.**


	17. THIS IS NOT A NEW CHAPTER

**THIS IS NOT A NEW CHAPTER**

with that out of the way, heres what's up concerning good ol' Zorcoz and his hyper inconsistently updated fanfiction.

I've recently confronted some issues that I've been hiding for some time, and the fallout from that has been continuing for the past couple months, however that is not something that I need to bother too many people with.

all you guys need to know is that I am now gifted with a temporary abundance of free time, which I hope to put some of into progressing the plot of nations fire. Avatar recently came back onto netflix for me and it has reinvigorated my narrative idea machine in regards to nations fire. I can promise at least 1 new chapter within 48 hours of me posting this update, beyond that it's going to be a mixture of reader feedback and my own motivation to keep going. there are two readers who recently read and commented on several chapters and I would like to thank you guys in particular. so to TheDragon2000 and Riverus, thank you for your interest in my writing.

that's all for now, and I'll see people soon.

* * *

zorcoz


	18. Chapter 17

"So let me get this straight, your grand plan as to what to do next is to travel to some random city of the Colonies and look for one of your friends from a century ago?"

Her Voice dripped with so much disbelief that Aang had to hold back a small cringe as he readied the defense for his plan.  
"You make that sound like it's a bad thing Azula. Buimi was an expert when it came to outside of the box solutions, if anyone can give me advice on where to go from here, it's him."

She huffed, and although he didn't see her face from his position on appas head,k he could almost see in his mind's eye the image of he perfectly maintained bang falling back into its ordained position on the side of her face as she did so.

"You are forgetting a very important thing Aang, you knew him 100 years ago, the chances that he is even still alive are slim to none." Her exasperated tone was growing worse by the second.

"A slim chance at getting any idea at all of what to do is better than wandering at random with no clear goal. At least doing this we have something. If it all falls apart after that then I suppose we figure it out from there."

He heard Azula huff once more and go quiet for a moment, glancing over his shoulder he saw she was now sat with her hands folded over her chest, lips pursed in thought, it seemed that at least for a moment she had conceded the argument to him, and he smiled as he turned his gaze back towards the skies ahead.

~0~

She allowed him to stew in victory for a few moments before speaking up again. If he was dead set on this path, she would at least gain as much knowledge as she could so as to be ready.

After a few moments of silence, she broke the silence once more.  
"Where was it you said we were going? Omango or Omushroom? Something along those lines?"

He laughed slightly, his shoulders shaking as he held a closed fist to his mouth.

"You're close enough there I guess. Bumi lived in Omashu. It's a great city that's famous for its mail system, a huge series of slides that run all over, allowing for quick and efficient delivery. Though, Bumi thought of a much better way to use them."

Azula gave a thoughtful hum in response. The destination which Aang described to her sounded familiar, yet Azula found herself unable to place exactly from where she recalled it. If she was being honest it was rather annoying, to have that lingering sensation in the back of her mind that she was forgetting something.

She once again stewed in silence for a long moment, trying to force the memory to surface before Aang's voice pierced her thoughts.

"Are you alright Azula? You've gotten pretty quiet."

She forced the nagging sensation from her head as she responded. If it was truly important she would remember eventually.

"It's nothing, nothing at all. What's this greater purpose you alluded to just now?"

She didn't see his face, but his smirk was evident in his response.

"You'll see when we get there."

She wanted to slap him for that, but something inside held her back, she wanted to, but at the same time she didn't, she didn't have time to analyze why however, her time would be better spent trying to recall from where she remembered the name "Omashu". She instead settled to glare at him before again huffing aloud and folding her arms. It was not the most dignified way to lose an argument, yet the avatar seemed to enjoy it when she did so. And thus she did.

Fine, have it your way. Simply inform me when we are approaching our destination, if you would be so kind. I'm going to rest my eyes."

As she laid down in the large saddle and she heard Aang reply with a jovial "Yes ma'am" before she allowed herself to slip away into the world of dreams.

 **as promised an Actual story update, its shorter than I intended, as I planned on having them Arrive at Omashu in this chapter, however, as I was writing, I felt like it would flow better to have the actual arrival at the city be the start of a new chapter, and thus here we are. that means good news and bad news. bad news is you probably could have knocked this chapter out in about a minute of reading time. Good news is, the next chapter will arrive pretty quickly, as in within the week, rather than 6 months from now... hopefully.**


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